Jobs

Today, Representatives Bobby Scott (VA-03), Frederica S. Wilson (FL-24), Carolyn Maloney (NY-12), and Jan Schakowsky (IL-09) introduced H.R. 5496, a legislative package of bills to update the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to ensure that more workers have access to job-protected leave to care for themselves and their loved ones.

Congressional Full Employment Caucus Co-Chairs Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), Congresswoman Frederica Wilson (D-FL) and Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) today released the following statement on May jobs report numbers:

This weekend, President Obama announced proposals to strengthen the unemployment insurance (UI) system and create wage insurance programs-policies that stand to benefit millions of unemployed and underemployed Floridians.

Today, the Brookings Institution released a paper that ranks Miami, Florida, among the top ten U.S. cities with the highest levels of income inequality. Since 2007, Miami, much like other major cities, has experienced increased levels of income inequality due to marked declines in household incomes in the bottom 20th percentile in the past seven years.

Today marks the anniversary of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the first piece of legislation that President Obama signed when he took office. Seven years later, however, equal pay has still not been achieved. Last year, women who worked fulltime earn just 79 cents for every dollar earned by men. African-American and Hispanic women earn 60 and 50 cents, respectively, per every dollar earned by white men.

On May 23, 2016, I sent a letter to Governor Rick Scott urging him to take over the city of Opa-Locka's finances. As the city's congressional representative I believe that the decision to take this step was the right thing to do.

Today the House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections held a hearing titled "Promoting Safe Workplaces Through Effective and Responsible Recordkeeping Standards" to examine OSHA's recordkeeping and anti-retaliation rule issued by Department of Labor on May 12, 2016.

Since January 1, 2015, OSHA has required employers to report within 24 hours any work-related amputations, in-patient hospitalizations, or loss of eye, in addition to an already existing requirement to report fatalities within eight hours.

Today, the Department of Labor issued a final rule strengthening outdated rules for determining workers' overtime eligibility. Under the new rule, most salaried, white-collar workers who earn less than $47,476 a year, or $913 a week, will be entitled to time-and-a-half pay for hours worked in excess of 40 hours in a week.