DOCSLIB.ORG

Everyone Gets Sick. Not Everyone Has Time to Get Better

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Everyone Gets Sick. Not Everyone Has Time to Get Better Everyone Gets Sick. Not Everyone Has Time To Get Better. A Briefing Book on Establishing a National Paid Sick Days Standard Released: April 26, 2010 In October, I got very sick with diverticulitis. My doctor put me on bedrest for two weeks. While I was out, my boss hounded me to come back, but I was way too sick. I told him I would be back as soon as I could. I was not receiving sick pay at all. When I did go back to work early, he fired me and told me he needed someone he could count on. I worked for this man for two years. I was shocked. Sometimes things happen and you get sick. How are you to foresee these things? — Heather, Cedar Crest, New Mexico 2 Everyone Gets Sick. Not Everyone Has Time To Get Better. Nearly two in five private-sector workers (39 percent) don’t have a single paid sick day to recover from common, short-term illnesses. Our nation’s failure to establish a basic paid sick days workplace standard has never been so apparent and it’s costing workers, families and the overall public health. When government officials advised us to stay home and keep our children at home during the 2009 H1N1 “swine” flu pandemic, millions of workers without paid sick days didn’t have that option— they risked losing critical income and even their job. In this economy, those risks came at too high a cost. As a result, our health was jeopardized. Whether it’s the H1N1 flu, or a norovirus stomach-flu outbreak, working people shouldn’t be forced to choose between being responsible employees and conscientious community members. A national workplace standard of paid sick days would allow workers to be both. San Francisco, Washington, DC, and Milwaukee have already passed laws guaranteeing paid sick days to workers in their cities. However, illness—and especially pandemics like the H1N1 flu—doesn’t have geographic boundaries. We need a national paid sick days standard to protect all working people. The Healthy Families Act (H.R. 2460/S. 1152) would enable workers to earn up to seven paid sick days a year to recover from short-term illness, to care for a sick family member and to seek routine medical care. Join us in supporting a national paid sick days standard. 3 I had to work while having bouts of awful bronchitis and walking pneumonia. I got no time off at all even when I was in severe pain, coughing up phlegm or vomiting. Instead I had to act like I wasn’t sick, and keep up the same standards and smiling face…. I couldn’t take unpaid days off from work because I couldn’t afford to do that. I needed the money to pay for things like rent and food. When my quality of work suffered substantially from having to go to work while so sick, I was fired from my job because according to my then-supervisor, I did not create a happy environment for the customers. — Noel, Bellingham, Washington 4 Establishing Paid Sick Days as a Minimum Labor Standard Overview When Workers Don’t Have Paid Sick Days, Contagious Illnesses Spread Through Our Workplaces, Schools and Communities. Example One: A Flu Pandemic Almost 26 million employed people age 18 and older may have been infected with H1N1 flu virus during the peak months of the pandemic, September through November 2009. Government officials urged all workers to stay home from work if they had symptoms, and to keep sick children home from school. But this wasn’t an option for millions of workers. Without job- protected paid sick days, heeding the government’s advice cost these workers their paycheck and their job security. During the height of the H1N1 pandemic, workers with lower rates of access to paid sick days were far more likely than those with higher rates of access to paid sick days to go to work sick and, as a result, the pandemic lasted longer in their workplaces. Overall, 8 million workers went to work sick between September and November 2009 and may have infected up to 7 million of their co- workers. 1 Economic pressures and anxiety surely affected workers’ decisions to go to work ill. When asked what problems they would encounter if they had to stay home for seven to 10 days (the standard course of the H1N1 virus), 44 percent of workers surveyed answered that they or a household member would “lose pay and have money problems.” 2 Example Two: A Stomach Virus Outbreak When a worker at a Chipotle restaurant in Kent, Ohio had no choice but to come to work sick with the norovirus, over 500 people became violently ill. The outbreak cost the Kent community between $130,000 and $300,000. 3 While the Kent Chipotle example is one of the most researched outbreaks in recent years, it is not an isolated incident. Each year, there are approximately 76 million cases of foodborne illness nationwide.4 The Food and Drug Administration guidelines recommend that workers with norovirus -related illnesses work on a restricted basis until 24 hours after symptoms subside. 5 Since most food service establishments don’t offer paid sick time, workers are forced to work sick or take unpaid leave. Workers who have jobs requiring frequent contact with the public and our food are the least likely to have job-protected paid time off. Three in four food service workers lack access to even a single paid sick day. 6 1 Institute for Women’s Policy Research, Sick at Work: Infected Employees in the Workplace During the H1N1 Pandemic , Feb. 2010, www.iwpr.org/pdf/B284sickatwork.pdf. 2 Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress, Expanding Access to Paid Sick Leave: The Impact of the Healthy Families Act on America’s Workers , March 2010, http://jec.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?a=Files.Serve&File_id=abf8aca7-6b94-4152-b720-2d8d04b81ed6. 3 Policy Matters Ohio, Outbreak in Ohio: Cost of the 2008 Norovirus Incident in Kent, www.policymattersohio.org/outbreakinohio2008.htm. 4 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Foodborne Illness, www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/foodborneinfections_g.htm. 5 Supplement to the 2009 FDA Food Code, www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/RetailFoodProtection/FoodCode/FoodCode2009/ucm189171.htm. 6 Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress, Expanding Access to Paid Sick Leave: The Impact of the Healthy Families Act on America’s Workers , March 2010, http://jec.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?a=Files.Serve&File_id=abf8aca7-6b94-4152-b720-2d8d04b81ed6. 5 Without a Basic Workplace Standard of Paid Sick Days, Our Nation’s Workers Can’t Afford To Stay Home Sick. In this economic climate, no one should face the awful choice between caring for their health or keeping their paychecks or jobs. But millions of working people must decide between the two every time they are faced with even the most common illness or when a family member gets sick. Only one in three low-wage workers has paid sick days, which means that they are particularly vulnerable to facing economic hardship when illness strikes. 7 One in six workers report that they or a family member have been fired, disciplined, written up or threatened with being fired for taking time off due to illness or to care for a sick relative.8 The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) does not guarantee workers paid sick days—and neither do any state laws. A national standard guaranteeing workers the ability to earn paid, job-protected sick days would help ensure that workers don’t have to choose between their health and their economic security. Without a Paid Sick Days Standard, Public Policies Fail to Account for the Responsibilities of Millions of Working Caregivers. Children get well faster when a parent cares for them, but in today’s world, two-thirds of children live in homes where both parents or single parents work.9 Yet 53 percent of working mothers and 48 percent of working fathers don’t have paid sick days to care for an ill child.10 As a result, children are forced to go to school sick. Millions of working people provide care for ill and aging family members and need time away from work to do so. A third of workers, both women and men, report they have cared for an older relative in the past year. 11 And 44 million adults over age 18 provide support to older people and adults with disabilities who live in their communities. 12 A paid sick days standard would allow caregivers to be responsible on the job—and at home. 7 Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress, Expanding Access to Paid Sick Leave: The Impact of the Healthy Families Act on America’s Workers , March 2010, http://jec.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?a=Files.Serve&File_id=abf8aca7-6b94-4152-b720-2d8d04b81ed6 (data reported is among workers in the lowest wage quartile – those earning $10.50 per hour or less). 8 National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago for the Public Welfare Foundation, Paid Sick Days: A basic labor standard for the 21 st century ” August 2009, www.norc.org/NR/rdonlyres/D1391669-A1EA-4CF4-9B36-5FB1C1B595AA/0/PaidSickDaysReport.pdf. 9 Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Population Survey Estimate, Table 4. Families with own children: Employment status of parents by age of youngest child and family type, 2007-08 annual averages (2008 data), www.bls.gov/news.release/famee.t04.htm (NPWF calculation). 10 Institute for Women’s Policy Research, Women and Paid Sick Days: Crucial for Family Well-Being, Feb.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Why a Union Voice Makes a Real Difference for Women Workers: Then and Now
    Why a Union Voice Makes a Real Difference for Women Workers: Then and Now Judith A. Scottt ABSTRACT: Working women, labor unions, and collective action played a crucial role in passing and implementing the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. The Article describes how labor unions pushed for the passage of the Act and later made protections for pregnant workers real through collective bargaining, internal education efforts, and litigation. Finally, the Article discusses the fundamental improvements for working women that still must be achieved- and the need for strengthened worker organizations if those changes are to become a reality. IN TRO DU CTION ................................................................................................ 233 I. THE FIRST STEP: THE ROLE OF UNIONS IN PASSING THE PDA ................... 234 II. UNION ADVOCACY: MAKING THE PDA REAL FOR WORKERS ................... 235 III. BEYOND THE PDA: THE FUTURE ROLE OF UNIONS IN SECURING THE RIGHTS OF W OMEN W ORKERS ............................................................. 241 C ON CLU SION ................................................................................................... 244 INTRODUCTION In this Article, I describe an important story behind the passage and implementation of the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA)I--one that has continuing implications for creating a society that delivers for poor and working families and rebuilds the middle class. It is the story of how the empowerment of working women and collective action were crucial to improving workplace culture and practices for pregnant workers thirty years ago, and why those same factors are necessary today if we are to dramatically t Judith A. Scott is currently General Counsel of the Service Employees International Union and a member of the law firm of James & Hoffman, P.C., Washington, D.C.
    [Show full text]
  • How Immigration Enforcement Has Interfered with Workers' Rights
    How Immigration Enforcement Has Interfered with Workers’ Rights ICED OUT: How Immigration Enforcement Has Interfered with Workers’ Rights ICED OUT | How Immigration Enforcement Has Interfered with Workers’ Rights by Rebecca Smith, National Employment Law Project; Ana Avendaño, AFL-CIO; Julie Martínez Ortega, American Rights at Work Education Fund Photo Credits: Photos featured in this report were generously supplied by the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice. © October 2009. All Rights Reserved. Acknowledgements: Eddie Acosta, AFL-CIO; Erin Johansson, American Rights at Work Education Fund; Michael L. Snider, Attorney at Law; Jenny Yang, Cohen, Milstein, Sellers and Toll; Brooke Anderson, East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy; Brooke Greco, Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center; Brady Bratcher, Iron Workers Union Local 75; Hillary Ronen, La Raza Centro Legal; Renee Saucedo, La Raza Centro Legal; Jennifer Rosenbaum, New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice; Julie Samples, Oregon Law Center ; Jacqueline Ramirez, Service Employees International Union Local 87; Siovhan Sheridan-Ayala, Sheridan Ayala Law Office; Mary Bauer, Kristin Graunke, Monica Ramirez and Andrew Turner, Southern Poverty Law Center; Vanessa Spinazola, The Pro Bono Project; Gening Liao, formerly of United Food and Commercial Workers; Randy Rigsby, United Steelworkers District 9; Jim Knoepp, Virginia Justice Center. 2 ICED OUT: How Immigration Enforcement Has Interfered with Workers’ Rights TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Introduction ......................................................................... 5 II. Immigration and Labor Law in Context ................................................ 7 III. Federal Policies Fail to Ensure Appropriate Balance Between Immigration and Labor Law Enforcement ................................... 13 IV. Case Studies: Immigration Enforcement Trumps Labor Rights .........................15 V. The Need to Identify and Assist Workers Who Are Victims of Labor Trafficking Rather than Focusing on Their Deportation ................30 VI.
    [Show full text]
  • Stmaryscbu^ Lounge of the Campus LIZ BARBER WALKER, Center During Reunion of Maryland Weekend, June 8-10
    SPRING 2001 www.smcm.edu Cover photo of the Garden SEGREGATION AT GUADALAJARA of Remembrance taken by ENCOUNTERS Paul Matthai, '74. Look for J l» IwiftRI <•**•) Paul's work in the Aldom AN INTERVIEW WITH PG. 22 StMarysCbU^ Lounge of the Campus LIZ BARBER WALKER, Center during Reunion of Maryland Weekend, June 8-10. PG. to at Historic St. Marys City By Dirk Griffith;79 The College is pleased to announce the Lucy F. Spedden Scholarship, named for the alumna whose gift of nearly a million dollars makes it possible. The gift, established through a bequest, is expected to generate $50,000 a year in new scholarships. Born February 5, 1898 in Fishing Creek, near Cambridge on Maryland's Eastern Shore, Lucy Spedden lived to see her 100th birthday. Better known as "Miss Lucy," she hailed from the Class of 1916. She did not graduate from St. Mary's Female Seminary, leaving school instead to care for an ailing, widowed mother. Diploma or no, she couldn't have been a more loyal alumna. It has been said that Miss Lucy never married because she was manied to St. Mary's. Her personal dedication, leadership, and hard work inspired generations of alumnae. She planned her vacations to coincide with Reunion Weekend and came back to St. Mary's to recruit new members to the fledgling Alumni Association. When alumni records were destroyed in the 1924 Calvert Hall fire, Miss Lucy reconstructed many of them by hand. For many, many years she was an active member of the Washington, D.C. alumni chapter.
    [Show full text]
  • Ne-Yo Au Festival Mawazine
    Communiqué de presse Rabat, 23 avril 2014 La dernière découverte du rap US à Mawazine Ne-Yo se produira en concert à Rabat le 04 juin 2014 L’Association Maroc Cultures a le plaisir de vous annoncer la venue du chanteur américain Ne-Yo à l’occasion de la 13ème édition du Festival - Mawazine Rythmes du Monde. Ne-Yo se produira mercredi 04 juin 2014 sur la scène de l’OLM-Souissi à Rabat. Dernière découverte du prestigieux label Def Jam, dont l’histoire se confond en grande partie avec celle du rap américain, Ne-Yo (né Shaffer Smith) a hérité d’une voix unique en son genre, inspirée de Stevie Wonder et des plus grands noms de la soul. L’artiste a obtenu en 2008 le Grammy Award du meilleur album contemporain R&B et composé des tubes pour Beyoncé, Rihanna et Britney Spears. Né en 1979 à Los Angeles, Ne-Yo est élevé par une famille de musiciens et se passionne très tôt pour la musique. Ses idoles de l'époque s’appellent Whitney Houston et Michael Jackson. Au cours de cette période, le garçon développe une culture musicale importante, s’essaie au chant, à la composition et à l'écriture. Après plusieurs prestations réussies, Ne-Yo retient l'attention de Def Jam, le label le plus actif de la scène R&B. Avec lui, le chanteur enregistre les singles So Sick , Sexy Love et When You're Mad , qui reçoivent un accueil très favorable dans les clubs de la côte ouest. Ne-Yo sort en 2006 son premier album, In My Own Words , qui se vend à 1 million d’exemplaires.
    [Show full text]
  • Voices of Feminism Oral History Project: Nussbaum, Karen
    Voices of Feminism Oral History Project Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College Northampton, MA KAREN NUSSBAUM interviewed by KATHLEEN BANKS NUTTER December 18–19, 2003 Washington, D.C. This interview was made possible with generous support from the Ford Foundation. © Sophia Smith Collection 2004 Sophia Smith Collection Voices of Feminism Oral History Project Narrator Karen Nussbaum was born in Chicago April 25, 1950, the daughter of Annette Brenner Nussbaum, who “did public relations for educational institutions and organizations for the public good for many years,” and Mike (Myron) Nussbaum, an exterminator (1946–70) and actor and director (1967–present). She attended the University Chicago for a year and a half and became involved in the anti-Vietnam War movement. She moved to Boston, working for the antiwar movement there while supporting herself as a clerical worker at Harvard University. She earned a B.A. from Goddard College in 1975. In 1973 Nussbaum and some friends organized 9to5, an organization for women clerical workers, initially in Boston. By 1975, Boston 9to5 had joined other similar groups across the country and they reached out to a mostly unreceptive labor movement. SEIU, however, welcomed them and Local 925 was born. In 1981 the union expanded to a national jurisdiction and became SEIU District 925. Nussbaum was president of the 925 union and executive director of 9to5 until 1993. In 1993 President Bill Clinton appointed her as director of the Women’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor. In 1996 she went to the AFL-CIO to head up the newly created Working Women’s Department, which was phased out in 2001.
    [Show full text]
  • Organizations Endorsing the Equality Act
    647 ORGANIZATIONS ENDORSING THE EQUALITY ACT National Organizations 9to5, National Association of Working Women Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC A Better Balance Asian American Federation A. Philip Randolph Institute Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) ACRIA Association of Flight Attendants – CWA ADAP Advocacy Association Association of Title IX Administrators - ATIXA Advocates for Youth Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists AFGE Athlete Ally AFL-CIO Auburn Seminary African American Ministers In Action Autistic Self Advocacy Network The AIDS Institute Avodah AIDS United BALM Ministries Alan and Leslie Chambers Foundation Bayard Rustin Liberation Initiative American Academy of HIV Medicine Bend the Arc Jewish Action American Academy of Pediatrics Black and Pink American Association for Access, EQuity and Diversity BPFNA ~ Bautistas por la PaZ American Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Brethren Mennonite Council for LGBTQ Interests American Association of University Women (AAUW) Caring Across Generations American Atheists Catholics for Choice American Bar Association Center for American Progress American Civil Liberties Union Center for Black Equity American Conference of Cantors Center for Disability Rights American Counseling Association Center for Inclusivity American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Center for Inquiry Employees (AFSCME) Center for LGBTQ and Gender Studies American Federation of Teachers CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers American Heart Association Central Conference
    [Show full text]
  • Everyone Gets Sick. Not Everyone Has Time to Get Better
    Everyone gets sick. Not everyone has time to get better. A Briefing Book on Establishing a Paid Sick Days Standard July 2011 In October, I got very sick with diverticulitis. My doctor put me on bed rest for two weeks. While I was out, my boss hounded me to come back, but I was way too sick. I told him I would be back as soon as I could. I was not receiving sick pay at all. When I did go back to work early, he fired me and told me he needed someone he could count on. I worked for this man for two years. I was shocked. Sometimes things happen and you get sick. How are you to foresee these things? — Heather, Cedar Crest, New Mexico Everyone Gets Sick. Not Everyone Has Time To Get Better. Nearly two in five private sector workers — about 40 million people — don’t have a single paid sick day to recover from common, short-term illnesses. Millions more lack paid sick days to care for a sick child. Workers without paid sick days face an impossible choice when illness strikes. Either they go to work sick or send a sick child to school or daycare; or they stay home, lose pay and risk job loss or workplace discipline. Particularly in this economy, many workers simply can’t afford to jeopardize the economic security of their families by staying home. When workers lack access to paid sick days, contagious illnesses spread through our workplaces and schools. Workers without paid sick days are more likely than workers who have paid sick days to go to work sick with an illness like the flu and to send a sick child to school.
    [Show full text]
  • Rushing Union Elections: Protecting the Interests of Big Labor at the Expense of Workers’ Free Choice
    RUSHING UNION ELECTIONS: PROTECTING THE INTERESTS OF BIG LABOR AT THE EXPENSE OF WORKERS’ FREE CHOICE HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND THE WORKFORCE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, JULY 7, 2011 Serial No. 112–31 Printed for the use of the Committee on Education and the Workforce ( Available via the World Wide Web: www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/committee.action?chamber=house&committee=education or Committee address: http://edworkforce.house.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 67–240 PDF WASHINGTON : 2011 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND THE WORKFORCE JOHN KLINE, Minnesota, Chairman Thomas E. Petri, Wisconsin George Miller, California, Howard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon, California Senior Democratic Member Judy Biggert, Illinois Dale E. Kildee, Michigan Todd Russell Platts, Pennsylvania Donald M. Payne, New Jersey Joe Wilson, South Carolina Robert E. Andrews, New Jersey Virginia Foxx, North Carolina Robert C. ‘‘Bobby’’ Scott, Virginia Bob Goodlatte, Virginia Lynn C. Woolsey, California Duncan Hunter, California Rube´n Hinojosa, Texas David P. Roe, Tennessee Carolyn McCarthy, New York Glenn Thompson, Pennsylvania John F. Tierney, Massachusetts Tim Walberg, Michigan Dennis J. Kucinich, Ohio Scott DesJarlais, Tennessee David Wu, Oregon Richard L. Hanna, New York Rush D. Holt, New Jersey Todd Rokita, Indiana Susan A. Davis, California Larry Bucshon, Indiana Rau´ l M. Grijalva, Arizona Trey Gowdy, South Carolina Timothy H.
    [Show full text]
  • Co-Sponsor the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (S
    M , 2017 ay 31 Re: Co-Sponsor the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (S. 1101/H.R. 2417) Dear Member of Congress: As organizations committed to promoting the health and economic security of our nation’s families, we urge you to support the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. This bipartisan legislation promotes healthy pregnancies and economic security for pregnant women and their families and strengthens the economy. In the last few decades, there has been a dramatic demographic shift in the workforce. Not only do women now make up almost half of the workforce, but there are more pregnant workers than ever before and they are working later into their pregnancies. The simple reality is that some of these women—especially those in physically demanding jobs—will have a medical need for a temporary job-related accommodation in order to maintain a healthy pregnancy. Yet, too often, instead of providing a pregnant worker with an accommodation, her employer will fire her or push her onto unpaid leave, depriving her of a paycheck and health insurance at a time when she needs them most. American families and the American economy depend on women’s income: we can’t afford to force pregnant women out of work. In 2015, in Young v. United Parcel Service, the Supreme Court held that a failure to make accommodations for pregnant workers with medical needs will sometimes violate the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 (PDA). The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act will strengthen the Supreme Court’s decision in Young, by providing employers and pregnant workers with a clear, predictable rule: employers must provide reasonable accommodations for limitations arising out of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless this would pose an undue hardship.
    [Show full text]
  • Nondiscrimination in Health and Health
    Officers May 20, 2020 Chair Judith L. Lichtman National Partnership for Women & Families Vice Chairs Thomas A. Saenz Mexican American Legal The Honorable Alex Azar Derek Kan Defense and Educational Fund Hilary Shelton Secretary Executive Associate Director NAACP Secretary/Treasurer U.S. Department of Health and Office of Management and Budget Lee A. Saunders American Federation of State, Human Services 725 17th Street NW County & Municipal Employees 200 Independence Avenue SW Washington, DC 20503 Board of Directors Kevin Allis National Congress of American Indians Washington, DC 20201 Kimberly Churches AAUW Paul Ray Kristen Clarke Lawyers' Committee for Roger Severino OIRA Administrator Civil Rights Under Law Alphonso B. David Director Office of Management and Budget Human Rights Campaign Rory Gamble Office for Civil Rights 725 17th Street NW International Union, UAW Lily Eskelsen García U.S. Department of Health and Washington, DC 20503 National Education Association Fatima Goss Graves Human Services National Women's Law Center Mary Kay Henry 200 Independence Avenue SW Seema Verma Service Employees International Union Sherrilyn Ifill Washington, DC 20201 Administrator NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services David H. Inoue Japanese American Citizens League 7500 Security Boulevard Derrick Johnson NAACP Baltimore, Maryland 21244 Virginia Kase League of Women Voters of the United States Michael B. Keegan People for the American Way Samer E. Khalaf Re: Nondiscrimination in Health and Health
    [Show full text]
  • The Body and Posttraumatic Healing: a Teresian Approach
    Journal of Moral Theology, Vol. 9, No. 1 (2020): 75-97 The Body and Posttraumatic Healing: A Teresian Approach Julia Feder HEN MANY PEOPLE THINK “mysticism” or “mystical prayer,” they imagine a dreamy kind of out-of-body ex- perience in which one encounters the Ultimate. For W those who have suffered from sexual violence, this ver- sion of prayer is, at best, not helpful and, at worst, dangerous. Because the threat of dissociation of the mind and the body is both debilitating and ever-present for trauma survivors, imagining prayer as a “mystical flight” away from the realm of bodies (both personal and social-polit- ical) is a terrible idea—both theologically and psychologically. The idea that mystical prayer might push one beyond or away from the body is psychologically dangerous because dissociation from one’s body is a costly mode of coping with trauma and bodily reintegration is extremely difficult once this breach has been rendered.1 For Chris- tian survivors of sexual violence, a conception of prayer as mystical flight is also poor theology because the Christian tradition is an incar- national tradition—one that centers revelation on the disclosure of God in flesh. According to the Christian tradition, prayer orients us more profoundly to God incarnate—God disclosed sacramentally in our lives, in history, in the world. Therefore, Christian prayer is always and everywhere an embodied practice. Teresa of Avila, the sixteenth-century Spanish saint and mystic, is one of the most celebrated authors describing the deep and enduring connection between the life of prayer and the body.
    [Show full text]
  • How Immigration Enforcement Has Interfered with Workers' Rights
    How Immigration Enforcement Has Interfered with Workers’ Rights ICED OUT: How Immigration Enforcement Has Interfered with Workers’ Rights ICED OUT | How Immigration Enforcement Has Interfered with Workers’ Rights by Rebecca Smith, National Employment Law Project; Ana Avendaño, AFL-CIO; Julie Martínez Ortega, American Rights at Work Education Fund Photo Credits: Photos featured in this report were generously supplied by the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice. © October 2009. All Rights Reserved. Acknowledgements: Eddie Acosta, AFL-CIO; Erin Johansson, American Rights at Work Education Fund; Michael L. Snider, Attorney at Law; Jenny Yang, Cohen, Milstein, Sellers and Toll; Brooke Anderson, East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy; Brooke Greco, Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center; Brady Bratcher, Iron Workers Union Local 75; Hillary Ronen, La Raza Centro Legal; Renee Saucedo, La Raza Centro Legal; Jennifer Rosenbaum, New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice; Julie Samples, Oregon Law Center ; Jacqueline Ramirez, Service Employees International Union Local 87; Siovhan Sheridan-Ayala, Sheridan Ayala Law Office; Mary Bauer, Kristin Graunke, Monica Ramirez and Andrew Turner, Southern Poverty Law Center; Vanessa Spinazola, The Pro Bono Project; Gening Liao, formerly of United Food and Commercial Workers; Randy Rigsby, United Steelworkers District 9; Jim Knoepp, Virginia Justice Center. 2 ICED OUT: How Immigration Enforcement Has Interfered with Workers’ Rights TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Introduction .. ........................ 5 II. Immigration and Labor Law in Context . 7 III. Federal Policies Fail to Ensure Appropriate Balance Between Immigration and Labor Law Enforcement . 13 IV. Case Studies: Immigration Enforcement Trumps Labor Rights . 15 V. The Need to Identify and Assist Workers Who Are Victims of Labor Trafficking Rather than Focusing on Their Deportation .
    [Show full text]