Bryce Covert at The Nation writes—New Jersey Just Passed the First Law in the Nation to Guarantee Severance Pay After Mass Layoffs:
On Monday, the New Jersey legislature gave final approval to a bill that would make it the first state in the country to guarantee severance pay in the wake of mass layoffs. The bill ensures that workers at big companies have to be paid at least a week’s wages for every year of work. It now sits on the desk of Governor Phil Murphy, who has 30 days to sign or veto it; advocates say the governor has expressed support for it.
The bill is a response to a series of bankruptcies among major employers in the state over the past two years. When Toys “R” Us went bankrupt in 2017, the company had 1,500 employees in New Jersey. At first, it announced that it would let them go without any severance pay at all. Without this new law in place, it was perfectly legal to refuse to give longtime workers any financial cushion in the wake of sudden job loss. So employees came together, with the help of the worker-organizing nonprofit United for Respect (at the time called Rise Up Retail), to demand payment for their years of work at the toy retailer. They eventually secured a $20 million hardship fund from the company’s private equity owners, KKR and Bain, although it was a good deal less than the $75 million they had originally demanded. When Sears went bankrupt in 2018, its management similarly told employees they wouldn’t get severance pay, either. Workers pressured Eddie Lampert, whose hedge fund, ESL Investments Inc., bought the company in 2005, to agree to pay them up to $43 million, although he later tried to back out of the deal during the bankruptcy process.
It was in the wake of those liquidations, at a rally of laid-off Toys “R” Us employees, that New Jersey State Senator Joseph Cryan got “engaged on the issue,” he said. He starting working on the legislation, supported by Toys “R” Us and Sears workers. “Candidly, I’m just tired of the little guy getting screwed,” Cryan said.
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At Daily Kos on this date in 2009—The Economic Stimulus Bill Takes Its First Step:
President-Elect Barack Obama is one step closer to getting an economic stimulus bill:
Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives unveiled an $825 billion tax cut and spending bill on Thursday they hope will help President-elect Barack Obama reverse the steep decline in the U.S. economy.
The bill, which would add to an already massive $1.2 trillion budget deficit forecast for this year, would combine $550 billion in emergency spending initiatives with $275 billion in temporary tax benefits over the next two years.
While saying that the bill was designed to get the "biggest bang for the buck," and would help create 4 million jobs, House Speaker Pelosi acknowledged that it was only the "first step" in what is sure to be a contentious process over the next several weeks.
Minority Leader Boehner said that the "tax relief for middle-class families and small businesses" didn't go far enough, which works out well since Appropriations Chairman David Obey said the $825 billion price tag may not be enough.