Join Mel and Francesca, your workplace insiders, as they break down the biggest workplace news affecting your career and wallet.
This week: Major developments in overtime pay as Texas courts strike down new federal rules, shocking new data about the salary Americans say they need to feel successful ($270K!), and the latest research on paid family leave that could change your benefits. Plus, the childcare crisis hitting working parents harder than ever.
🔍 In this episode:
- Breaking: Texas federal court invalidates nationwide overtime exemption rules
- New DOL research reveals only 27% of workers have paid family leave
- The real cost of childcare vs. rent in 2024
- Why Gen Z says they need $500K to feel successful
- Which companies are stepping up for part-time workers
- Inside Portillo's innovative corporate staffing strategy
Your Work Friends delivers no-nonsense workplace news, salary insights, and career strategy you can actually use. Perfect for professionals navigating corporate and workplaces in America who want to stay ahead of workplace trends and protect their careers.
New episodes every week. Subscribe for the latest in workplace news, labor laws, salary trends, and corporate culture.
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Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered professional advice. We are not responsible for any losses, damages, or liabilities that may arise from the use of this podcast. The views expressed in this podcast may not be those of the host or the management.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
only 27% of civilian workers had access to paid
family leave through theiremployer.
27%, that is low.
Hey friends, this is your work,friends, where we're breaking
(00:27):
down what's going on with work,so you get ahead.
I'm Mel Plett and I'm FrancescaRanieri.
Francesca, where would you dothis weekend?
Speaker 2 (00:36):
You know, we went to one of these NBA G League games.
Have you ever been to one ofthese?
I have not.
It's like a yeah, it's likefarm teams for basketball teams.
So in Portland, I have not.
It's like a yeah, it's likefarm teams for basketball teams.
So in Portland.
The Portland Trail Blazers Gteam is the Rip City Remix Super
fun, every city has them.
If you have an NBA team, youhave a G League team.
Highly recommend it.
It's awesome.
Just to be very close up, Idon't think I realize how tall
(00:59):
basketball players are.
Yeah, man, yeah, they're supertall.
Yeah I.
Yeah, man, yeah, they're supertall.
Yeah, I'm not short.
But I was like, yes, I am, yes,I am.
How about you?
What'd you do this?
Speaker 1 (01:07):
weekend.
So I spent a lot of time inhome depot this weekend sawing
things.
Did you know that you can sawtrim?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
oh yeah, they'll cut it for you just in the aisle.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Oh no, it was a makeshift cart, two carts with
some hand saws and measuringtape for you to do it yourself.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
That's so comical.
That feels like a slight OSHAissue.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Yeah, it was just rubbing on this aisle.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Are you sure you're supposed to be using that, or
were you supposed to ring thebell for an employee?
Speaker 1 (01:42):
No, it was set up.
Employees were walking by so wewere cutting the trim.
Yeah, it was like a wholestation set up.
It was so goofy.
I took the funniest picture ofRavi.
I thought it was so funny, andI helped pick out paint colors,
so that was exciting.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Well, we're back with new week, new headlines.
What are you talking abouttoday?
Speaker 1 (02:00):
New research out of the US Department of Labor
underscores the benefits of paidfamily and medical leave.
Nice, and I'm also talkingabout the federal court strike
down out of Texas for theovertime exemption rule
nationwide.
Oh dang, yeah, I want to talkabout that.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I want to talk about.
The CNBC came out with anarticle the salary.
Americans say they need to feelsuccessful at every age.
It's probably way more thanyou're thinking, so I want to
talk about that.
And then, mel, I think you andI both have some WTF news we'll
close the show with.
We got to talk about this.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Oh, yes, let's do it.
Yeah, new research shows thathaving a national paid family
and medical leave program wouldreduce poverty across all
communities and it woulddiminish the poverty gap among
workers, according to newresearch that was conducted by
(02:54):
the Urban Institute, which wascommissioned by the US
Department of Labor Women'sBureau.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Interesting right.
We don't currently have anational FMLA law on the books.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Correct For paid leave, for paid leave Paid
specifically.
Yes, got it, so leave'savailable, but paid leave is the
differentiator right.
Here's the so what?
Only 13 states and the Districtof Columbia currently have paid
family and medical leaveprograms.
District of Columbia currentlyhave paid family and medical
(03:28):
leave programs.
As of March 2023, only 27% ofcivilian workers had access to
paid family leave through theiremployer 27%.
That is low.
Among our lowest wage earners,only 6% of them have access to
paid leave through theiremployers.
So think servers at yourrestaurant, retail workers,
(03:48):
part-time workers.
They don't have access to thesethings, folks, and it impacts
their families, right?
Other benefits of adopting anational paid leave program
would include that 97% ofworkers would now be eligible
for these benefits, which ishuge, and that's if they provide
up to 12 weeks of paid leave.
(04:08):
Other benefits beyond thatinclude further support for
women in the workforce, and also, doing something like this
could increase our GDP, and oneof the quotes that I really
loved in this article wasinvesting in families works for
everyone, it works for business,it works for them, it works for
(04:30):
our country, so I thought thatwas really interesting.
What are your thoughts on this?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Yeah, when I think about FMLA, I automatically
think about maternity leave.
Now, you can use FMLA for awhole host of different things,
but when I think aboutespecially women in the
workplace, you and I both havetalked about women that give
birth and then they need to beback at work Literally that week
(04:55):
.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Yeah my niece.
She's a server.
She just had a baby a year agoand she had to return within the
week because she does not havepaid leave options and that's
that she had to pay for childcare.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
This is the spiral that people get into.
You think about all of thethings that someone can
experience medically or wherethey need to have leave.
If you're in the sandwichgeneration, if you're just going
through life, that's all FMLA.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
It's all FMLA.
But if you're not paid for thattime, you may get three months
off, but if you don't get paidfor three months, how many
families can actually afford tonot be paid for that time?
They can't.
They can't afford it.
So it's a luxury Interesting,so I'm all for it.
Friend to friend, here's whatyou should be watching First and
(05:44):
foremost, your employers oryour prospective employer's
policy on paid leave.
Make sure you're digging intothat and you know what that is,
and reach out to yourlegislators.
I don't know if folks know this, but you can email your
legislator every single day ifthere's something that's
important to you.
Mel does.
Multiple times a day Listenthere's something that's
important to you.
(06:04):
Mel does Multiple times a day.
I do not, but I used to.
I do not start this rumor.
No, I don't, but I, as a formerlegislative office building
intern many moons ago, that wasone of my jobs answering
constituent emails.
So I think it's reallyimportant if you are local in
your community, getting involved, if you care about these things
, understand what your locallegislation is around.
(06:24):
Paid leave States may bedifferent than even federally.
What's going on with this?
We'll share a link to thisresearch in our show notes, but
you can forward that along andsay I'm really interested in
this and care about it.
What are you doing?
You can ask questions.
What are you doing to supportthis?
How can we advocate for it?
That's how you get theconversation started, folks.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah, and especially locally, you have a lot of
influence.
I will tell you that when wedid the episode on Project 2025,
which is largely thought of asthe Republican platform, paid,
fmla is not on their docket atall, which is interesting
because if they're the party forfamilies, Are they?
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Listen, I'm going to go back to that quote.
Investing in families works foreverybody, so hopefully they'll
pay attention to it.
Moving on increase in minimumsalary requirements in order to
(07:25):
make sure someone isappropriately listed as an
exempt employee, there's threedifferent measurements to say
whether you're exempt or not asan employee, one of them being
the salary threshold.
And okay, we talked about thisback in January 2024.
And essentially, they weregoing to be increasing these
thresholds in two phases.
Right, phase one, july 1st 2024, the first round of increases,
(07:48):
and then phase two would havehappened in january 1 of 2025.
What we know, texas strikesagain what is going on in Texas?
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Texas is just like a totally Son of a bitch.
Son of a bitch.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
What are you doing down there?
Look, we covered this a yearago.
We thought that this wasdefinitely going to be
challenged in the courts.
We knew someone was going to doit.
It took time and they did.
They officially struck thisdown in Texas last week.
Look, the final rule back inApril from the Department of
Labor would have raised theminimum salary requirement for
(08:29):
exempt status to be $58,656.
That's up from $35,568.
The reason, folks, this is goodfor employees.
Why Lower paid salary workersare often doing the same jobs as
hourly workers, but they end upspending more time away from
(08:50):
families, but they don't get theovertime pay or the additional
pay because they're exempt.
They can work 40, 50, 60, 70hours without any of the extra
pay and some of the times it'sexplained away, they get
benefits and they get this andthey get that.
No, it doesn't all equal out andwe know, even for exempt
(09:12):
salaried employees who make highsalaries today, they're grossly
abused as well, and we did alittle fun video about that a
while back, so watch that ifyou'd like.
The original order would haveprovided regular updates to
salary thresholds every threeyears to reflect changes in
earnings, and it also would havesafeguarded against future
(09:33):
erosion of overtime protections.
So essentially, this Texascourt's decision to block the
increase for January 1 alsoinvalidates the requirement from
July.
So what they're seeing is thatsome employers are exploring how
they can roll things back,since they raised compensation
(09:54):
amounts back in July.
What do you think about this,francesca?
Speaker 2 (09:57):
I think there's two things.
One of the arguments abouteither raising minimum wage or
raising exempt status forovertime too we hear this over
and over again Run the tapesdecades back whenever someone
has tried to lift these and getpeople more money especially
lower income workers more money.
The number one argument isthat's going to hurt small
(10:17):
business, and what we find inthe data over the long arc is
that's absolutely not true.
It's just not right.
So a the argument that they'regoing to start throwing at this
is not, over the long arc, valid.
The second I have is and thismight be a really harsh thing to
say, but again, if you go lookat the Republican platform that
was out there they're basicallylooking to get rid of overtime
(10:40):
100%, and I need everybody toknow that overtime might be
going away completely.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
It could If they decide to get rid of the
Department of Labor, which therehas been talk about them
completely gutting it right.
Yeah, employee protections areat risk, including overtime pay,
and again, we did a deep diveof this last year to cover kind
of the abuse of exempt employees.
Today, including these lowersalaried worker, but also higher
(11:08):
salary earners are being abusedwhen it comes to being exempt.
It's just a space to watchfolks and, friend to friend,
here's what you should look outfor.
Okay, the Department of Labormay appeal this decision.
However, we have that upcomingtransition in our new
administration coming in January, so be on the lookout.
Subscribe to Google alerts ifyou need to.
(11:31):
This is interesting for you, andsome States may already have a
threshold in place that isactually much higher than what
was proposed federally anyway.
So you want to understand whatis at your state level, what
they propose, what they require.
It may be slightly differentfrom the federal mandate.
It may even be better than whatwas under the federal mandate,
(11:53):
so become familiar.
I guess what we're saying hereis make sure that you're aware
of not just what's happeningfederally but what's happening
locally.
Good rule of thumb Overall.
Yeah, just understand where youlive.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
CNBC came out with this article the salary
Americans say that they need tofeel successful at every age.
So they basically dumped abunch of generations in a bucket
and said give me the dollaramount you need to make as an
individual every year to feelsuccessful.
What do you think that averagenumber was?
Speaker 1 (12:28):
I'm going to go with 150.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
The annual salary average is verbatim $270,214 to
feel financially successful.
This was a survey done by thegroup called Empower.
I think what's interesting is,on the one end of the range,
baby boomers said it's $100,000a year.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
I'm not a boomer.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
No, boomer said 100, gen Z said $500,000.
Holy shit, $500,000.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Okay, can we get real a little bit?
Just a little bit, because I'ma fan of facts and feelings.
Not facts or feelings, butfacts and feelings.
I like it.
I like it, yeah, because I livein the New York City tri-state
(13:29):
metro area, one of the highestcost of living locations in the
country.
There are families surviving onmuch less yeah, families,
entire families much less than500K.
I'm not saying they're thriving.
I do think you need asignificant amount more per
household.
If it's a one person household,you probably do need closer to
(13:51):
150, 200 K.
If it's a two person householdand everyone's bringing home the
150, that's 300 K for twopeople.
I don't know, I think there's alot of.
It depends and it's on yourpersonal circumstances.
500 K seems like someone justthrew something out there and
was like hell, yeah, I want ahalf a million dollars a year
with no, with no thought processbehind it.
(14:12):
I think there needs to be asalary increase for sure, and
everyone should have a livablewage.
I also think there needs to bemore regulation around the greed
of organizations thatincredibly impact our cost of
living and our ability to thrive.
So insurance companies, thecost of healthcare, the cost of
groceries, the disgusting pricegouging.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
I do want to talk about the facts and then I do
want to talk about the feelingstoo.
The facts on the board is themedian household income in this
country is $80,000 and $80,610.
That's according to the USCensus Bureau from last year.
Wow, Around $80,000.
Okay, so that's the medianincome.
When you look at the livablewage, it differs from state to
(14:54):
state.
But just to give everyone anexample here livable wage in
Mississippi it's $80,766.
Massachusetts, $128,000.
And so when you think aboutwe're saying this is livable at
the highest end of the range,let's say it's 150 in New York
City, highest end of the rangeis livable At the highest end of
the range.
Let's say it's 150 in New YorkCity, Highest end of the range
is livable, Right.
And then you have folks saying,yeah, but to feel successful
(15:16):
this is where the feelings comein I need to feel like this 270,
this 280, to feel like I am notliving paycheck to paycheck,
that I can take my kid on avacation, that I can buy a car
paycheck, that I can take my kidon a vacation, that I can buy a
car.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Yeah, I think there's a difference between minimum
wage, livable wage and thrivingwhat I think people are talking
about here is.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
This is what I need to thrive.
Yeah, this is what you need inorder to go into Target and not
give a shit about what you'reputting in your cart.
You know what I'm saying, or?
Speaker 1 (15:48):
your grocery list for the week.
You don't even think twice thatyou're buying two dozen eggs.
A thousand percent yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
A thousand percent, that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Yeah, I think this is so-.
I'm still going to questionthat 500K, though.
Come on.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Yeah, I'm like I appreciate Fall in I guess
you're thriving as-.
Damn dude.
Yeah, a couple of things herethat I would love for folks to
keep in mind.
One is that it takes a lot ofyears to get to the level of 270
in a lot of organizations, soif you're not making that,
that's not something to feelbadly about at all.
That is a very high income.
(16:19):
Actually, only 10% of workersmake that or above it's, so
that's not a lot of people makethat.
So, again, just keep all thatin mind.
The other is Mel.
Have you seen this?
I am seeing a ton of jobsopening for recruiters.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
I am.
I'm seeing that a lot recently,which, as a former recruiter,
that's a good sign.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Mel, what does it mean?
Speaker 1 (16:42):
More jobs, more hirings about to pick up, yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Hiring is about to pick up.
The need for talent is about topick up.
The need for talent is about topick up.
So if you're thinking aboutmaking a hop, or if you're
thinking about increasing yoursalary, hopping a job is
probably one of the best ways todo it.
Absolutely All right, mel, yes,f, yeah, wtf.
(17:09):
Should we end on a high or endon the funny?
Let's end on a high, all right.
What's your WTF?
Speaker 1 (17:16):
My WTF news this week is the National Database of
Child Care came out with areport and the price of child
care in the US for families.
Want to take a guess what thatis?
Speaker 2 (17:28):
$1,000 a month per kid.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Close, probably.
Their new research shows theprice of child care for US
families is more than a month'srent for most families.
Yeah, I have friends They'vehad to make a choice where one
parent stays home because itjust didn't make sense for one
of them to be working for it allto just go to child care.
Yeah, or the majority of itgoes to child childcare.
(17:52):
So it was like, why would I payfor that?
And so they've had to now makea career decision and the
long-term impacts of earningpotential and all of those
things over the cost ofchildcare.
So that's my WTF news.
What are we doing here?
And they mentioned in thisarticle that it's really a
crisis intervention point.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
I covered this a couple months ago too.
The amount of childcare centersis in the red.
We need more childcareopportunities out there.
That's number one.
Also this is one of the mostneeded benefits is onsite
childcare for corporations, andwe're seeing a slow uptick of
corporations offering that.
But fully paid, or at leasthighly subsidized onsite
(18:31):
childcare.
I would love to see it, butyeah, that is expensive as hell.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Expensive.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
What about you?
All right, mine is the Dogeadministration, the department
of governmental efficiency thatis going to be headed up by
Vivek and Elon.
Here's my thing with this right.
They're coming in and sayingone of their first orders of
business is remote work, and oneof the reasons why is because
they're saying that, look, theyknow that there are 2 million
(18:57):
government workers out there.
That excludes post office, thatexcludes the military, so we
have 2 million workers that arein the government.
They want to use RTO as a masslayoff feature and ideally,
they're trying to operate thegovernment with 20% of the
workers that are there now.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Good luck.
What an insult to governmentworkers.
Come on now.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Totally agree.
First of all, like every singleorganization, there are amazing
, incredible people, and thenthere are people that aren't.
Tell me any organization outthere and I will show you all
sides of the story, absolutely.
The other thing I'm why I'msaying a WTF, move is move is
you know this and I know this.
But whenever you go into anorganization, even if it's an
organization that's in yourindustry that you have been a
(19:45):
thought leader in, you don'tknow what you don't know and you
should not be making anymassive moves or any massive
proclamations before going inthere.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
A hundred percent.
Your first three months at aminimum is just a listening tour
.
If you're lucky and you get sixmonths to do that, great.
But you really just have to getin there and it's like
listening, digging into thedetails, digging into the data,
to really understand the fullpicture before you make any
sweeping changes.
So that just shows meincompetent leadership.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah, look at, he walked into Twitter with a
kitchen sink and then I wouldargue that it's operating.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
It is not the same product, not the same product,
and it's also a failing business.
So hemorrhaging yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Interesting.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Yeah, what the fuck?
All right, wtf, wtf, all right.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
What is your FIA?
Something from the US newshighlighting organizations that
are doing more for part-timeemployees when it comes to
benefits, and so I was like, yes, I want to see more of this.
People that are offering morebenefits to our part-timers.
For example, costco they'reoffering health benefits.
Costco man Kirkland Kirklandthey're offering health benefits
(21:00):
for part-time hourly workersafter 60 days of continuous
service.
And Ikea offers full benefitsfor those working 20 hours per
week, and they also help pay forthe cost of coverage, which is
really nice.
There's a whole list of otherorgs.
We'll link to it in the shownotes, but love to see it.
Keep it going.
What about you?
Amazing.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Okay, this is from HR brew hotdog chain Portillo's.
So if you're in the Chicagolandarea at Portillo's it's a near
and dear to my heart Hotdogchain Portillo's staffs it's
restaurants with corporateemployees during the holiday
season.
So they take corporate officeemployees C-level on down and
then between November andJanuary they take short staffed
(21:42):
stores and put corporateemployees in there and they have
to work several weeks basically.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
I love to see it.
You and I both worked in retailfor a long time.
It makes a world of differencein terms of decision-making,
being on the floor,understanding what your
employees go through andexperience your customer base
all of those things that's realtraining, talk about on the job
training and understanding yourbusiness.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Yeah, you really can't understand your consumer
unless you are with yourconsumer, and if you have stores
, that's absolutely where youwant to be.
I love this move.
I also think you and I havetalked about this.
I think everybody should workfood service or retail at least
one time in their life, if notmultiple times in your life, and
especially as you move up theranks, to continue that
(22:28):
continuity or understand whatit's like to be in another seat.
But I will tell you, as someonewho's had to do this, one of
the worst days to work is BlackFriday.
So, friends, please be nice, ifyou're going out into the malls
, don't be an a-hole, please.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Be nice to service workers, please.
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Thanks so much for joining us today.
This episode was produced,edited and all the things by Mel
and myself.
Francesca, our music is fromPink Zebra.
We love that you joined theconversation today.
Join us on all of the socials,especially the LinkedIn
community of your work.
Friends, we're over there witha bunch of people.
Come and talk to us and if youliked this episode, please like
and subscribe.
(23:11):
Bye, friends, bye.
only 27% of civilian workers had access to paid
family leave through theiremployer.
27%, that is low.
Hey friends, this is your work,friends, where we're breaking
(00:27):
down what's going on with work,so you get ahead.
I'm Mel Plett and I'm FrancescaRanieri.
Francesca, where would you dothis weekend?
Speaker 2 (00:36):
You know, we went to one of these NBA G League games.
Have you ever been to one ofthese?
I have not.
It's like a yeah, it's likefarm teams for basketball teams.
So in Portland, I have not.
It's like a yeah, it's likefarm teams for basketball teams.
So in Portland.
The Portland Trail Blazers Gteam is the Rip City Remix Super
fun, every city has them.
If you have an NBA team, youhave a G League team.
Highly recommend it.
It's awesome.
Just to be very close up, Idon't think I realize how tall
(00:59):
basketball players are.
Yeah, man, yeah, they're supertall.
Yeah I.
Yeah, man, yeah, they're supertall.
Yeah, I'm not short.
But I was like, yes, I am, yes,I am.
How about you?
What'd you do this?
Speaker 1 (01:07):
weekend.
So I spent a lot of time inhome depot this weekend sawing
things.
Did you know that you can sawtrim?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
oh yeah, they'll cut it for you just in the aisle.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Oh no, it was a makeshift cart, two carts with
some hand saws and measuringtape for you to do it yourself.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
That's so comical.
That feels like a slight OSHAissue.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Yeah, it was just rubbing on this aisle.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Are you sure you're supposed to be using that, or
were you supposed to ring thebell for an employee?
Speaker 1 (01:42):
No, it was set up.
Employees were walking by so wewere cutting the trim.
Yeah, it was like a wholestation set up.
It was so goofy.
I took the funniest picture ofRavi.
I thought it was so funny, andI helped pick out paint colors,
so that was exciting.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Well, we're back with new week, new headlines.
What are you talking abouttoday?
Speaker 1 (02:00):
New research out of the US Department of Labor
underscores the benefits of paidfamily and medical leave.
Nice, and I'm also talkingabout the federal court strike
down out of Texas for theovertime exemption rule
nationwide.
Oh dang, yeah, I want to talkabout that.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I want to talk about.
The CNBC came out with anarticle the salary.
Americans say they need to feelsuccessful at every age.
It's probably way more thanyou're thinking, so I want to
talk about that.
And then, mel, I think you andI both have some WTF news we'll
close the show with.
We got to talk about this.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Oh, yes, let's do it.
Yeah, new research shows thathaving a national paid family
and medical leave program wouldreduce poverty across all
communities and it woulddiminish the poverty gap among
workers, according to newresearch that was conducted by
(02:54):
the Urban Institute, which wascommissioned by the US
Department of Labor Women'sBureau.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Interesting right.
We don't currently have anational FMLA law on the books.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Correct For paid leave, for paid leave Paid
specifically.
Yes, got it, so leave'savailable, but paid leave is the
differentiator right.
Here's the so what?
Only 13 states and the Districtof Columbia currently have paid
family and medical leaveprograms.
District of Columbia currentlyhave paid family and medical
(03:28):
leave programs.
As of March 2023, only 27% ofcivilian workers had access to
paid family leave through theiremployer 27%.
That is low.
Among our lowest wage earners,only 6% of them have access to
paid leave through theiremployers.
So think servers at yourrestaurant, retail workers,
(03:48):
part-time workers.
They don't have access to thesethings, folks, and it impacts
their families, right?
Other benefits of adopting anational paid leave program
would include that 97% ofworkers would now be eligible
for these benefits, which ishuge, and that's if they provide
up to 12 weeks of paid leave.
(04:08):
Other benefits beyond thatinclude further support for
women in the workforce, and also, doing something like this
could increase our GDP, and oneof the quotes that I really
loved in this article wasinvesting in families works for
everyone, it works for business,it works for them, it works for
(04:30):
our country, so I thought thatwas really interesting.
What are your thoughts on this?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Yeah, when I think about FMLA, I automatically
think about maternity leave.
Now, you can use FMLA for awhole host of different things,
but when I think aboutespecially women in the
workplace, you and I both havetalked about women that give
birth and then they need to beback at work Literally that week
(04:55):
.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Yeah my niece.
She's a server.
She just had a baby a year agoand she had to return within the
week because she does not havepaid leave options and that's
that she had to pay for childcare.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
This is the spiral that people get into.
You think about all of thethings that someone can
experience medically or wherethey need to have leave.
If you're in the sandwichgeneration, if you're just going
through life, that's all FMLA.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
It's all FMLA.
But if you're not paid for thattime, you may get three months
off, but if you don't get paidfor three months, how many
families can actually afford tonot be paid for that time?
They can't.
They can't afford it.
So it's a luxury Interesting,so I'm all for it.
Friend to friend, here's whatyou should be watching First and
(05:44):
foremost, your employers oryour prospective employer's
policy on paid leave.
Make sure you're digging intothat and you know what that is,
and reach out to yourlegislators.
I don't know if folks know this, but you can email your
legislator every single day ifthere's something that's
important to you.
Mel does.
Multiple times a day Listenthere's something that's
important to you.
(06:04):
Mel does Multiple times a day.
I do not, but I used to.
I do not start this rumor.
No, I don't, but I, as a formerlegislative office building
intern many moons ago, that wasone of my jobs answering
constituent emails.
So I think it's reallyimportant if you are local in
your community, getting involved, if you care about these things
, understand what your locallegislation is around.
(06:24):
Paid leave States may bedifferent than even federally.
What's going on with this?
We'll share a link to thisresearch in our show notes, but
you can forward that along andsay I'm really interested in
this and care about it.
What are you doing?
You can ask questions.
What are you doing to supportthis?
How can we advocate for it?
That's how you get theconversation started, folks.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah, and especially locally, you have a lot of
influence.
I will tell you that when wedid the episode on Project 2025,
which is largely thought of asthe Republican platform, paid,
fmla is not on their docket atall, which is interesting
because if they're the party forfamilies, Are they?
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Listen, I'm going to go back to that quote.
Investing in families works foreverybody, so hopefully they'll
pay attention to it.
Moving on increase in minimumsalary requirements in order to
(07:25):
make sure someone isappropriately listed as an
exempt employee, there's threedifferent measurements to say
whether you're exempt or not asan employee, one of them being
the salary threshold.
And okay, we talked about thisback in January 2024.
And essentially, they weregoing to be increasing these
thresholds in two phases.
Right, phase one, july 1st 2024, the first round of increases,
(07:48):
and then phase two would havehappened in january 1 of 2025.
What we know, texas strikesagain what is going on in Texas?
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Texas is just like a totally Son of a bitch.
Son of a bitch.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
What are you doing down there?
Look, we covered this a yearago.
We thought that this wasdefinitely going to be
challenged in the courts.
We knew someone was going to doit.
It took time and they did.
They officially struck thisdown in Texas last week.
Look, the final rule back inApril from the Department of
Labor would have raised theminimum salary requirement for
(08:29):
exempt status to be $58,656.
That's up from $35,568.
The reason, folks, this is goodfor employees.
Why Lower paid salary workersare often doing the same jobs as
hourly workers, but they end upspending more time away from
(08:50):
families, but they don't get theovertime pay or the additional
pay because they're exempt.
They can work 40, 50, 60, 70hours without any of the extra
pay and some of the times it'sexplained away, they get
benefits and they get this andthey get that.
No, it doesn't all equal out andwe know, even for exempt
(09:12):
salaried employees who make highsalaries today, they're grossly
abused as well, and we did alittle fun video about that a
while back, so watch that ifyou'd like.
The original order would haveprovided regular updates to
salary thresholds every threeyears to reflect changes in
earnings, and it also would havesafeguarded against future
(09:33):
erosion of overtime protections.
So essentially, this Texascourt's decision to block the
increase for January 1 alsoinvalidates the requirement from
July.
So what they're seeing is thatsome employers are exploring how
they can roll things back,since they raised compensation
(09:54):
amounts back in July.
What do you think about this,francesca?
Speaker 2 (09:57):
I think there's two things.
One of the arguments abouteither raising minimum wage or
raising exempt status forovertime too we hear this over
and over again Run the tapesdecades back whenever someone
has tried to lift these and getpeople more money especially
lower income workers more money.
The number one argument isthat's going to hurt small
(10:17):
business, and what we find inthe data over the long arc is
that's absolutely not true.
It's just not right.
So a the argument that they'regoing to start throwing at this
is not, over the long arc, valid.
The second I have is and thismight be a really harsh thing to
say, but again, if you go lookat the Republican platform that
was out there they're basicallylooking to get rid of overtime
(10:40):
100%, and I need everybody toknow that overtime might be
going away completely.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
It could If they decide to get rid of the
Department of Labor, which therehas been talk about them
completely gutting it right.
Yeah, employee protections areat risk, including overtime pay,
and again, we did a deep diveof this last year to cover kind
of the abuse of exempt employees.
Today, including these lowersalaried worker, but also higher
(11:08):
salary earners are being abusedwhen it comes to being exempt.
It's just a space to watchfolks and, friend to friend,
here's what you should look outfor.
Okay, the Department of Labormay appeal this decision.
However, we have that upcomingtransition in our new
administration coming in January, so be on the lookout.
Subscribe to Google alerts ifyou need to.
(11:31):
This is interesting for you, andsome States may already have a
threshold in place that isactually much higher than what
was proposed federally anyway.
So you want to understand whatis at your state level, what
they propose, what they require.
It may be slightly differentfrom the federal mandate.
It may even be better than whatwas under the federal mandate,
(11:53):
so become familiar.
I guess what we're saying hereis make sure that you're aware
of not just what's happeningfederally but what's happening
locally.
Good rule of thumb Overall.
Yeah, just understand where youlive.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
CNBC came out with this article the salary
Americans say that they need tofeel successful at every age.
So they basically dumped abunch of generations in a bucket
and said give me the dollaramount you need to make as an
individual every year to feelsuccessful.
What do you think that averagenumber was?
Speaker 1 (12:28):
I'm going to go with 150.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
The annual salary average is verbatim $270,214 to
feel financially successful.
This was a survey done by thegroup called Empower.
I think what's interesting is,on the one end of the range,
baby boomers said it's $100,000a year.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
I'm not a boomer.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
No, boomer said 100, gen Z said $500,000.
Holy shit, $500,000.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Okay, can we get real a little bit?
Just a little bit, because I'ma fan of facts and feelings.
Not facts or feelings, butfacts and feelings.
I like it.
I like it, yeah, because I livein the New York City tri-state
(13:29):
metro area, one of the highestcost of living locations in the
country.
There are families surviving onmuch less yeah, families,
entire families much less than500K.
I'm not saying they're thriving.
I do think you need asignificant amount more per
household.
If it's a one person household,you probably do need closer to
(13:51):
150, 200 K.
If it's a two person householdand everyone's bringing home the
150, that's 300 K for twopeople.
I don't know, I think there's alot of.
It depends and it's on yourpersonal circumstances.
500 K seems like someone justthrew something out there and
was like hell, yeah, I want ahalf a million dollars a year
with no, with no thought processbehind it.
(14:12):
I think there needs to be asalary increase for sure, and
everyone should have a livablewage.
I also think there needs to bemore regulation around the greed
of organizations thatincredibly impact our cost of
living and our ability to thrive.
So insurance companies, thecost of healthcare, the cost of
groceries, the disgusting pricegouging.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
I do want to talk about the facts and then I do
want to talk about the feelingstoo.
The facts on the board is themedian household income in this
country is $80,000 and $80,610.
That's according to the USCensus Bureau from last year.
Wow, Around $80,000.
Okay, so that's the medianincome.
When you look at the livablewage, it differs from state to
(14:54):
state.
But just to give everyone anexample here livable wage in
Mississippi it's $80,766.
Massachusetts, $128,000.
And so when you think aboutwe're saying this is livable at
the highest end of the range,let's say it's 150 in New York
City, highest end of the rangeis livable At the highest end of
the range.
Let's say it's 150 in New YorkCity, Highest end of the range
is livable, Right.
And then you have folks saying,yeah, but to feel successful
(15:16):
this is where the feelings comein I need to feel like this 270,
this 280, to feel like I am notliving paycheck to paycheck,
that I can take my kid on avacation, that I can buy a car
paycheck, that I can take my kidon a vacation, that I can buy a
car.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Yeah, I think there's a difference between minimum
wage, livable wage and thrivingwhat I think people are talking
about here is.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
This is what I need to thrive.
Yeah, this is what you need inorder to go into Target and not
give a shit about what you'reputting in your cart.
You know what I'm saying, or?
Speaker 1 (15:48):
your grocery list for the week.
You don't even think twice thatyou're buying two dozen eggs.
A thousand percent yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
A thousand percent, that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Yeah, I think this is so-.
I'm still going to questionthat 500K, though.
Come on.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Yeah, I'm like I appreciate Fall in I guess
you're thriving as-.
Damn dude.
Yeah, a couple of things herethat I would love for folks to
keep in mind.
One is that it takes a lot ofyears to get to the level of 270
in a lot of organizations, soif you're not making that,
that's not something to feelbadly about at all.
That is a very high income.
(16:19):
Actually, only 10% of workersmake that or above it's, so
that's not a lot of people makethat.
So, again, just keep all thatin mind.
The other is Mel.
Have you seen this?
I am seeing a ton of jobsopening for recruiters.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
I am.
I'm seeing that a lot recently,which, as a former recruiter,
that's a good sign.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Mel, what does it mean?
Speaker 1 (16:42):
More jobs, more hirings about to pick up, yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Hiring is about to pick up.
The need for talent is about topick up.
The need for talent is about topick up.
So if you're thinking aboutmaking a hop, or if you're
thinking about increasing yoursalary, hopping a job is
probably one of the best ways todo it.
Absolutely All right, mel, yes,f, yeah, wtf.
(17:09):
Should we end on a high or endon the funny?
Let's end on a high, all right.
What's your WTF?
Speaker 1 (17:16):
My WTF news this week is the National Database of
Child Care came out with areport and the price of child
care in the US for families.
Want to take a guess what thatis?
Speaker 2 (17:28):
$1,000 a month per kid.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Close, probably.
Their new research shows theprice of child care for US
families is more than a month'srent for most families.
Yeah, I have friends They'vehad to make a choice where one
parent stays home because itjust didn't make sense for one
of them to be working for it allto just go to child care.
Yeah, or the majority of itgoes to child childcare.
(17:52):
So it was like, why would I payfor that?
And so they've had to now makea career decision and the
long-term impacts of earningpotential and all of those
things over the cost ofchildcare.
So that's my WTF news.
What are we doing here?
And they mentioned in thisarticle that it's really a
crisis intervention point.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
I covered this a couple months ago too.
The amount of childcare centersis in the red.
We need more childcareopportunities out there.
That's number one.
Also this is one of the mostneeded benefits is onsite
childcare for corporations, andwe're seeing a slow uptick of
corporations offering that.
But fully paid, or at leasthighly subsidized onsite
(18:31):
childcare.
I would love to see it, butyeah, that is expensive as hell.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Expensive.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
What about you?
All right, mine is the Dogeadministration, the department
of governmental efficiency thatis going to be headed up by
Vivek and Elon.
Here's my thing with this right.
They're coming in and sayingone of their first orders of
business is remote work, and oneof the reasons why is because
they're saying that, look, theyknow that there are 2 million
(18:57):
government workers out there.
That excludes post office, thatexcludes the military, so we
have 2 million workers that arein the government.
They want to use RTO as a masslayoff feature and ideally,
they're trying to operate thegovernment with 20% of the
workers that are there now.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Good luck.
What an insult to governmentworkers.
Come on now.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Totally agree.
First of all, like every singleorganization, there are amazing
, incredible people, and thenthere are people that aren't.
Tell me any organization outthere and I will show you all
sides of the story, absolutely.
The other thing I'm why I'msaying a WTF, move is move is
you know this and I know this.
But whenever you go into anorganization, even if it's an
organization that's in yourindustry that you have been a
(19:45):
thought leader in, you don'tknow what you don't know and you
should not be making anymassive moves or any massive
proclamations before going inthere.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
A hundred percent.
Your first three months at aminimum is just a listening tour
.
If you're lucky and you get sixmonths to do that, great.
But you really just have to getin there and it's like
listening, digging into thedetails, digging into the data,
to really understand the fullpicture before you make any
sweeping changes.
So that just shows meincompetent leadership.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah, look at, he walked into Twitter with a
kitchen sink and then I wouldargue that it's operating.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
It is not the same product, not the same product,
and it's also a failing business.
So hemorrhaging yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Interesting.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Yeah, what the fuck?
All right, wtf, wtf, all right.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
What is your FIA?
Something from the US newshighlighting organizations that
are doing more for part-timeemployees when it comes to
benefits, and so I was like, yes, I want to see more of this.
People that are offering morebenefits to our part-timers.
For example, costco they'reoffering health benefits.
Costco man Kirkland Kirklandthey're offering health benefits
(21:00):
for part-time hourly workersafter 60 days of continuous
service.
And Ikea offers full benefitsfor those working 20 hours per
week, and they also help pay forthe cost of coverage, which is
really nice.
There's a whole list of otherorgs.
We'll link to it in the shownotes, but love to see it.
Keep it going.
What about you?
Amazing.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Okay, this is from HR brew hotdog chain Portillo's.
So if you're in the Chicagolandarea at Portillo's it's a near
and dear to my heart Hotdogchain Portillo's staffs it's
restaurants with corporateemployees during the holiday
season.
So they take corporate officeemployees C-level on down and
then between November andJanuary they take short staffed
(21:42):
stores and put corporateemployees in there and they have
to work several weeks basically.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
I love to see it.
You and I both worked in retailfor a long time.
It makes a world of differencein terms of decision-making,
being on the floor,understanding what your
employees go through andexperience your customer base
all of those things that's realtraining, talk about on the job
training and understanding yourbusiness.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Yeah, you really can't understand your consumer
unless you are with yourconsumer, and if you have stores
, that's absolutely where youwant to be.
I love this move.
I also think you and I havetalked about this.
I think everybody should workfood service or retail at least
one time in their life, if notmultiple times in your life, and
especially as you move up theranks, to continue that
(22:28):
continuity or understand whatit's like to be in another seat.
But I will tell you, as someonewho's had to do this, one of
the worst days to work is BlackFriday.
So, friends, please be nice, ifyou're going out into the malls
, don't be an a-hole, please.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Be nice to service workers, please.
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Thanks so much for joining us today.
This episode was produced,edited and all the things by Mel
and myself.
Francesca, our music is fromPink Zebra.
We love that you joined theconversation today.
Join us on all of the socials,especially the LinkedIn
community of your work.
Friends, we're over there witha bunch of people.
Come and talk to us and if youliked this episode, please like
and subscribe.
(23:11):
Bye, friends, bye.
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