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Legislative News and Views - Rep. Tim Mahoney (DFL)

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Legislative Update 2-26-15

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Dear Neighbor,

My work representing you at the Capitol is about making sure your interests are well served, from educating our children and investing in transportation, to making sure we have an economy where you can get ahead. The East Side is a great place to live and work. Our economy is growing, news businesses are moving in, and our housing market is getting better, but too many hard working residents of the district are still having a hard time getting ahead. To address this issue, legislators unveiled the Working Parents Act last week.

The Working Parents Act is a legislative package aimed at providing greater opportunity and economic security to millions of Minnesotans.

The Working Parents Act includes five legislative proposals:

Earned Sick and Safe Time: Over 1 million working Minnesotans lack access to paid sick time. The Working Parents Act would guarantee Minnesota workers have access to earned sick and safe time to care for themselves, a sick child, or a loved one, or to seek services due to domestic violence, stalking, or sexual assault.

Paid Family Leave: Only 13% of Minnesotans have access to paid family leave, meaning workers are often forced to choose between their families and their jobs. The Working Parents Act would create an insurance program to provide all Minnesota employees with a percentage of their wages for up to 6 weeks so they can afford to take time off to bond with a new child, care for an elder or seriously-ill family member, or deal with pregnancy-related health concerns.

Putting a Stop to Wage Theft: Wage theft occurs when workers who are denied overtime pay, refused pay for hours worked, or paid less than the minimum wage. The Working Parents Act would crack down on wage theft by increasing penalties for wage theft, extending the statute of limitations on all wage theft to 6 years, and protecting workers from employer retaliation.

Scheduling Fairness and Flexibility: Many Minnesota workers lack a predictable work schedule which can affect economic security and stability for families. The Working Parents Act would ensure more predictability in scheduling for workers, limit last-minute or on-call shifts, and protect workers from employer retaliation.

Tip Fairness for Servers: Several Minnesota restaurants in recent years have deducted the cost of credit and debit card transaction fees from servers’ tips. The Working Parents Act would prohibit businesses from deducting credit card processing fees from tips that are earned by servers and make sure that tips given by a customer go into the pockets of hardworking Minnesotans.

These are measures that will make a real difference in the lives of hardworking Minnesotans, many of whom are working hard to provide and care for themselves and their families. I’m hopeful that we can make progress on these issues this year.

As always, please feel free to contact me with any thoughts, concerns or comments you have. In addition to e-mail, I can be reached at 651-296-4277.

Sincerely,

Tim Mahoney