[Senate Hearing 111-595]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 111-595
THE COST OF BEING SICK:
H1N1 AND PAID SICK DAYS
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION,
LABOR, AND PENSIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
ON
EXAMINING H1N1 AND PAID SICK DAYS
__________
NOVEMBER 10, 2009
__________
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Pensions
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COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, AND PENSIONS
TOM HARKIN, Iowa, Chairman
CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming
BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire
JEFF BINGAMAN, New Mexico LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee
PATTY MURRAY, Washington RICHARD BURR, North Carolina
JACK REED, Rhode Island JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia
BERNARD SANDERS (I), Vermont JOHN McCAIN, Arizona
SHERROD BROWN, Ohio ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah
ROBERT P. CASEY, JR., Pennsylvania LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska
KAY R. HAGAN, North Carolina TOM COBURN, M.D., Oklahoma
JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon PAT ROBERTS, Kansas
AL FRANKEN, Minnesota
MICHAEL F. BENNET, Colorado
J. Michael Myers, Staff Director and Chief Counsel
Frank Macchiarola, Republican Staff Director and Chief Counsel
Subcommittee on Children and Families
CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut, Chairman
JEFF BINGAMAN, New Mexico LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee
PATTY MURRAY, Washington JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire
JACK REED, Rhode Island JOHN McCAIN, Arizona
BERNARD SANDERS (I), Vermont ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah
SHERROD BROWN, Ohio LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska
ROBERT P. CASEY, JR., Pennsylvania TOM COBURN, M.D., Oklahoma
KAY R. HAGAN, North Carolina PAT ROBERTS, Kansas
JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming (ex
TOM HARKIN, Iowa (ex officio) officio)
Jim Fenton, Staff Director
David P. Cleary, Republican Staff Director
(ii)
?
C O N T E N T S
__________
STATEMENTS
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2009
Page
Dodd, Hon. Christopher J., Chairman, Subcommittee on Children and
Families, opening statement.................................... 1
Enzi, Hon. Michael B., a U.S. Senator from the State of Wyoming.. 3
DeLauro, Hon. Rosa L., a U.S. Representative from the State of
Connecticut.................................................... 7
Prepared statement........................................... 9
Harris, Hon. Seth D., Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Labor,
Washington, DC................................................. 16
Prepared statement........................................... 18
Schuchat, Anne, M.D., Acting Deputy Director for Science and
Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and
Assistant Surgeon General, U.S. Public Health Service, U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, Atlanta, GA........... 22
Prepared statement........................................... 24
Ness, Debra, President, National Partnership for Women and
Families, Washington, DC....................................... 41
Prepared statement........................................... 43
Rosado, Desiree, Worker, Groton, CT.............................. 47
O'Brien, Elissa C., Vice President of Human Resources, Wingate
Healthcare, on Behalf of the Society of Human Resource
Management, Needham, MA........................................ 49
Prepared statement........................................... 51
Gottlieb, Scott, M.D., Resident Fellow, American Enterprise
Institute, Washington, DC...................................... 59
Prepared statement........................................... 61
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL
Statements, articles, publications, letters, etc.:
Senator Harkin............................................... 77
Senator Murray............................................... 78
American Association of University Women (AAUW).............. 79
Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)..................... 82
Deborah Frett, CEO, Business and Professional Women's
Foundation................................................. 83
Letters:
National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB)....... 87
National Small Business Association (NSBA)............... 88
Response to questions of Senator Dodd by Seth Harris......... 90
Response by Anne Schuchat to questions of:
Senator Dodd............................................. 92
Senator Reed............................................. 95
Senator Enzi............................................. 95
Senator Hatch............................................ 97
Response by Debra Ness to questions of:
Senator Dodd............................................. 99
Senator Enzi............................................. 100
Response to questions of Senator Dodd by Elissa O'Brien...... 101
Questions of Senator Dodd to Scott Gottlieb.................. 104
Response to questions of Senator Enzi by Scott Gottlieb...... 104
(iii)
THE COST OF BEING SICK:
H1N1 AND PAID SICK DAYS
----------
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2009
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee on Children and Families,
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:35 a.m. in
Room SD-430, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Christopher
J. Dodd, chairman of the subcommittee, presiding.
Present: Senators Dodd, Murray, Casey, Hagan, Merkley, and
Enzi.
Opening Statement of Senator Dodd
Senator Dodd. Order.
Let me welcome all of you here this morning for this
hearing. I am delighted to see such a good turnout this
morning, and some wonderful people that we're going to hear
from as our witnesses here to talk about the Healthy Families
Act and the related matters affecting H1N1 flu, as well. Let me
thank everyone for being here. We meet in the midst of an
American emergency. According to the Centers for Disease
Control, H1N1 flu has reached to 48 States and affected as many
as 5.7 million Americans. Overall, 672 Americans have died,
including at least 129 children.
In my State of Connecticut, along with my first witness,
Congresswoman DeLauro, our State, and across the country
families are anxious about this pandemic and are frustrated
that vaccines remain unavailable even to pregnant women,
schoolchildren, and the elderly. For those at greater risk,
H1N1 represents a serious health threat that forces changes in
daily routines. I hope, by the way, that today we can finally
get some answers for the folks who have asked me--and, I'm
sure, many others--why it is taking so long to produce enough
vaccines.
But, I've called this hearing today because the impact that
a pandemic like H1N1 cannot be solely measured by the number of
people infected or the tragic lives that are lost. H1N1 is
causing an emergency for workers and families across our
country, as well. Again, in my State of Connecticut, we have
had at least 10 schools close. We've even had entire school
districts close. Some 600 schools across the country have
closed their doors for at least some period of time. This, in
turn, forces, of course, working parents to care for sick
children or find ways to ensure that children whose schools
have closed are supervised.
Yesterday, I hosted a roundtable discussion in Connecticut
on H1N1. A woman by the name of Jane Grady from Middletown, CT,
told me about one Monday when she got a call from her school
that more than 350 children were sick and another 100 got sick
during that day. When she came to pick up her son, as she
described it, it looked like an emergency room in a hospital.
Meanwhile, small businesses, of course, are losing
productivity because of worker illnesses. And for the 57
million private-sector workers who do not have paid sick leave
available, coming down with H1N1 means you have to make a
choice; either you go in to work sick and risk infecting your
co-workers or stay home and lose, of course, a very important
day's pay.
The Center for Disease Control has strongly recommended
that you stay home until your fever has ended, and for at least
another 24 hours after that. This isn't just a workers' rights
issue, it's a public health emergency. Families shouldn't have
to choose between staying healthy and making ends meet. But, if
staying home means you don't get paid, that's an impossibility,
especially for families struggling to make ends meet in this
very tough economy. The more infected Americans who go to work,
the more Americans who will be exposed to H1N1.
According to the CDC, an individual who comes to work with
H1N1 will infect 10 percent of his or her coworkers. That's
worth repeating. According to the Center for Disease Control,
an individual who comes to work with H1N1 will infect 10
percent of his or her coworkers. What's troubling is, more than
three-quarters of food service and hotel workers do not have
paid sick days. Childcare, retail, nursing home workers are
also less likely to have paid sick days. Some 80,000 school
cafeteria workers cannot stay home when they are sick, and they
come to work to serve approximately 10 million schoolchildren
every day.
I'm told virtually 100 percent of schoolbus drivers are
without paid sick leave across the country. Now, that number
maybe not quite 100 percent, but that's the number I've been
given, it's close to 100 percent. This is simply dangerous, for
all of the obvious reasons.
Those most in need are also the least likely to have paid
sick days. Only one in four low-wage workers have paid sick
days, and they're often most likely to have jobs requiring
frequent contact with the public. According to the Bureau of
Labor Statistics, only 22 percent of the lowest-income workers
have paid sick days, compared with 86 percent of some of the
highest 25 percent of wage earners.
I'm introducing emergency legislation to help keep
Americans safe from the H1N1 virus. The bill that I introduce
will guarantee paid sick days that workers can use to take care
of themselves and loved ones if they are affected by H1N1 or
seasonal flu. Workers should have paid sick leave as a matter
of basic fairness, in my view.
The FMLA, the Family Medical Leave Act, was an important
step toward helping people balance work and family. For those
who still have to make that impossible choice every day, and so
many do, it's not nearly enough. That's why 145 nations around
the globe guarantee paid leave, and why our friend, Senator Ted
Kennedy, introduced the Healthy Families Act almost 7 years
ago, in 2003 or 2004, along with Congresswoman DeLauro, to
guarantee it to workers in this country, and why I'm very proud
to carry that legislation forward in his name and the name of
Congresswoman DeLauro.
Now sick leave is a matter of keeping Americans safe from
this pandemic, and from the next one or whatever it may be.
Experts estimate that if workers simply followed the CDC
guidelines and stayed home, the number of people affected by
pandemic flu would be cut by up to one-third. If paid sick
leave had been the reality when this pandemic began, we would
be in far better shape across the Nation.
So, I want it in place immediately to help parents and
workers, and I want it in place before the next pandemic, which
will come. I guarantee it will. And once again we'll be sitting
here asking ourselves the same questions once again. It's a
matter of fairness for workers, in my view, and it's a matter
of safety for all others.
I welcome our witnesses this morning, and thank them for
their time, and hope that we can help families not only in our
individual States, but across the Nation, who are worried about
this pandemic and anxious for some answers.
Our first witness is Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, who is no
stranger, having worked with me a number of years ago as my
chief of staff in the U.S. Senate when I first came here. She
knows this side of the Hill as well as anyone, and has been a
remarkable Member of Congress now for a number of years, and
has been the author of this legislation on the House side for
many, many years
Rosa, it's a pleasure to have you back in the committee.
Ms. DeLauro. Thank you.
Senator Dodd. You used to sit on this side, back here.
Ms. DeLauro. I did, indeed, Senator. Senator Enzi, it's a
pleasure to see you this morning. If you just bear with me,
what a wonderful opportunity for me to be able to testify
before the subcommittee today.
Senator Dodd. I'm going to have Mike Enzi make an opening--
--
Ms. DeLauro. Fabulous.
Senator Dodd [continuing]. Statement.
Ms. DeLauro. Go ahead, Senator.
Opening Statement of Senator Enzi
Senator Enzi. I would have been happy to wait until----
Senator Dodd. No, no, no.
Senator Enzi [continuing]. Others gave theirs, but, in
keeping with the tradition--Mr. Chairman, today Americans
across the country are trying to protect themselves and their
families from the threat of the flu pandemic that's threatening
the lives of children and pregnant women around the world. Yet,
when they show up at the doctor, they're being told that there
are no more vaccines and that due to shortages in supply,
they'll have to be put on a waiting list until the next
shipment arrives. Mr. Chairman, they're learning that their
government has failed to prepare the country for the threat of
a flu pandemic that was foreseeable and preventable, with
better coordination and preparedness.
The 2009 H1N1 virus was first detected in Mexico in March
2009; a month later, in the United States; today it's spread to
48 States including my home State of Wyoming. Yet, most
Americans who want to protect themselves by vaccination have
been left in the lurch and told that a supply of vaccines may
not even be available before the pandemic is over.
Now, in light of the bill that we're considering, some
employers might wonder if the vaccine isn't there, shouldn't
the Federal Government reimburse the employer for the time that
he has to provide paid sick leave, and perhaps even the parent
be reimbursed for the inconvenience?
I do have to mention a good program that's happening in my
State. One of the problems people face is when you have your
child in daycare, and they get sick. They don't want to infect
the rest of the daycare ones, so the parents have come and pick
them up. In Gillette, WY, the hospital has a sick-child
daycare, where you can then take your child, and they'll get
care, as well as being taken care of during the day. I think
it's a rather innovative approach to it.
This summer, the Administration promised Americans that 80
to 120 million doses of the vaccine would be distributed by
mid-October, yet here we are a month past that deadline, and
only 36 million doses are available. As for the doses that are
available, the
Administration appears to be taking inadequate precautions to
ensure fair and appropriate distribution. The media's full of
stories of vaccines going to populations that don't fit the
high-risk profile, such as terrorism suspects being held at
Guantanamo Bay, instead of those populations at risk, such as
small children and pregnant women.
With death tolls rising and almost no access to the
vaccine, it's no wonder that we're concerned. Every person left
unvaccinated is an opportunity for H1N1 to spread exponentially
and to mutate into a more deadly strain.
I'm pleased that we have a representative of the Center for
Disease Control here today to shed light on what's gone wrong
and to tell us what improvements can be made. I also want to
welcome Dr. Scott Gottlieb to the committee today to discuss
some of the policies that have contributed to the vaccine
shortage and provide recommendations for ways to improve our
response to pandemic flu in the future.
Some of these issues include the decision of the Department
of Health and Human Services to order single-dose instead of
the more efficient multidose vials. Multidose vials are
produced more quickly and can out-produce single dose vials 10
to 1. We have also yet to approve the use of adjuvants in flu
vaccines, which decrease the amount of vaccine needed in a
single dose, which would allow us to vaccinate more people with
the same amount of vaccine. Adjuvants are currently used in the
flu vaccine sold in Europe, but not yet approved for use in flu
vaccines in the United States.
Another shortfall we face is regarding the production
process. Today the United States still depends on chicken eggs
for their vaccine production. All other nations are using more
advanced cell-based manufacturing processes that are not
dependent on a supply of eggs and can more quickly increase
vaccine production. One way the Federal Government can improve
our production capability is through increases in funding for
BARDA. We also need to approve the cell-based manufacturing
process for the flu vaccine so that manufacturers will not need
to wait for FDA approvals the next time our Nation faces the
threat of a pandemic flu.
It is imperative that the United States increase its
capabilities to produce better technology that will increase
our preparedness in the future.
Today's hearing will focus on the impact that H1N1 has on
sick and healthy Americans every day, but let us not lose sight
of the opportunity for Congress to learn from this experience
and continue to force our Nation to increase our preparedness
capabilities.
The alarm that the H1N1 virus has raised in many households
also translates to our workplaces. Employers recognize that an
outbreak of the epidemic among their employees could shut down
a business for weeks and longer. And in the absence of
widespread access to the vaccine, they're taking steps to
protect their employees. They're providing information about
flu prevention, hand sanitation tools, and similar products.
They're preparing for telecommuting and running their
operations with smaller staff.
One of today's witnesses, Ms. Elissa O'Brien, will testify
about her company's vigorous H1N1 flu prevention efforts. Her
company has also adopted a leave policy which generously
provides a starting level of 26 days of paid leave and short-
term disability coverage, enough to accommodate the flu needs
of every employee, but which would be up-ended if the one-size-
fits-all Healthy Families Act became law.
Reading through her testimony, I was reminded that
Washington does not have a monopoly on good ideas, and that
whenever we act prescriptively, we also decrease flexibility
and creativity. What works in one place of business may not
work in another. And what we inflexibly mandate may not be best
for all.
I think sometimes Congress has a union mentality that the
employer is out to hurt the employee, and the mistaken idea
that they won't do the right thing unless they're forced to.
As we all remember, the Healthy Families Act was a priority
of our late chairman, Senator Kennedy. Before I entered public
service, I was a small-business owner, so I'm speaking from
experience when I say the goal of the legislation is something
we all share. In a small business, employees are like family
members. The smaller the business, the more like family
members.
Employers know that if they want to attract and keep good
employees, they must give them the flexibility they need to
care for their own health and their loved ones. Indeed, in the
most recent member benefit survey conducted by the Society for
Human Resource Management, some 86 percent of the respondents
reported that their companies provided sick leave either under
a separate sick leave program or as part of a general paid-
time-off plan. Over 80 percent of the respondents also
indicated they provide both short-term and long-term disability
insurance coverage, and an increasing number utilize even more
creative approaches, such as paid time off and sick leave banks
or pools.
The beauty of these creative approaches is that they're
responsive to the needs and wants of employees, the changing
costs of providing different benefits, and the ability of the
employer to provide such benefits while staying in business. I
remember lots of times, when I was in business, that you'd have
that ``sit up in the middle of the night and wonder how you're
going to make payroll the next day.'' You never considered
laying off people. That was absolutely a last choice. Sometimes
you did without in order to be able to pay them.
In contrast, the type of leave mandate by this and similar
bills would create complete inflexibility. It also would add to
the practical problems human resource officers deal with every
day by importing intermittent leave and medical verification
rules which have proven problematic in other statutes.
In addition, this bill provides no deterrents for abuse of
the leave entitlements, and raises privacy concerns, two issues
that employers have found innovative ways to resolve in the
absence of a mandate. Most employers provide sick leave
benefits both because they know that a healthy workforce
benefits their business, and because they know that in a
competitive labor market, they must address this issue to
attract and retain quality employees.
Today, the average cost of employee benefits for all
employers in the private sector is nearly $8.02 an hour.
Average benefits now comprise 30 percent of total payroll
costs. While the number of employers finding ways to provide
paid leave as part of their benefit package continues to
increase, there are some employees who do not have paid sick
leave available to them at their place of work. The bulk of
these individuals are employed by smaller employers who,
especially in the challenging times like these, are struggling
to maintain current payrolls. And that's getting harder and
harder.
Friday's job numbers showed we lost another 190,000 jobs
last month, and the unemployment rate reached a 26-year high of
10.2 percent.
Hitting small business and startups with new costs and
unfunded mandates is never advisable, and it's even more
irresponsible during a time when job creation should be a top
priority.
I notice that whenever we hold a hearing on small
businesses, I'm always asked by the media, ``How come more
small businesses didn't show up?'' I know the reason for that.
It's that if they had an extra employee so that they could come
and listen to a hearing, they'd fire one person, because they'd
have one too many people. They just don't have any extras, so
the flexibility isn't there that's in the bigger businesses.
It's a simple fact, whenever we impose unfunded mandates on
employers, the money necessary to pay those increased costs
must come from somewhere. They can't just print it, the way
Washington does. No matter how desirable the goal, one cannot
simply dismiss the cost as unimportant or inconsequential.
Here, the costs are decidedly not inconsequential,
particularly for the smaller businesses. The pool of available
labor dollars is not infinite, and when we mandate their
expenditure for a specific purpose, we always run the risk of
unintended consequences, such as adding to the growing pool of
unemployed workers.
A dollar that must be spent here often results in a dollar
that will not be spent elsewhere. Imagine the irony of an
employee who's granted sick leave under this bill, but whose
employer decides to eliminate or reduce health plan benefits.
The H1N1 pandemic has raised concerns for Americans looking
to protect themselves and their families, as well as for
employers seeking to keep their businesses going and their
employees healthy. These concerns, however, are layered on top
of the economic worries that have recently plagued us and the
unemployment numbers, which continue to rise. Now, more than
ever, we should be lifting up America's small businesses where
the growth starts and create sustainable jobs. This is not the
time to compound problems. Small businesses are facing another
unfunded, inflexible mandate from Washington.
I thank the Chairman and look forward to hearing from the
witnesses.
Senator Dodd. Well, I thank you, Mike, for that statement.
We're now going to ask for the Congresswoman to express
some views.
I should have pointed out, Rosa has been a Member of
Congress since 1990, and it seems like only yesterday, when you
were sitting here and introduced the Healthy Families Act, 5
years ago, same time Senator Kennedy did, as well. You've been
a tireless advocate on behalf of working families.
Thank you. Your testimony and any supporting documents,
Congresswoman, will be included in the record.
Statement of Hon. Rosa L. DeLauro, U.S. Representative
for Connecticut
Ms. DeLauro. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I might
just say, it was in 1990 that I had the pleasure of having you
stand next to me as I campaigned for this job. So much, much
appreciated. As I say, I'm grateful to see you, Senator Enzi,
this morning, delighted to come before this committee.
I have wanted to say something when the Senator--Senator
Enzi didn't speak first, because there's always that sense, as
a staff person--you know, I was a staff person for so many
years, so I sympathize with the folks behind the chairs there.
Once a staff person, always a staff person.
I am so grateful to be here today. And to you, Senator
Dodd, I want to just say it, because I did have the opportunity
of working with you as you put together--which was a
fundamental change in public policy in the United States at a
time when most people were not thinking about the problems and
the concerns of working families, and that produced the Family
Medical Leave Act. It also produced the Childcare Development
Block Grant and other countless measures that have helped
American workers and their families. As I say, it was
groundbreaking and visionary public policy to meet the needs
that people were facing in their lives, and we are all grateful
to you for that effort.
Today, I speak not only of a issue of basic fairness, but
one of growing importance to our economy, particularly given
the experience with the H1N1 virus this year, and an issue to
which my friend and your colleague, the late Senator Kennedy,
was passionately committed to, and that is paid sick days.
I believe that paid sick days are a basic question of right
and wrong, as Senator Kennedy did. Yet, as you pointed out,
Senator Dodd, unlike 145 other nations, including 19 of the 20
most economically competitive countries in the world, that is
to say everyone but us, everyone but the United States, does
not guarantee a single paid sick day to workers. Not one day.
The Family and Medical Leave Act, which covers 60 percent of
the workforce, is, as we all know, unpaid leave. As such, right
now 57 million Americans cannot take time from work when they
are sick or when they need to stay home to care for an ailing
child or an elderly relative. And yes, it is a good thing to
have a program that takes care of sick children while you're
working. I think we all know, and we could talk to the medical
profession, about how much quicker kids recover from an illness
if they have their parent or parents with them as they're going
through whatever the illness is.
In fact, almost half of all private-sector workers--79
percent of low-income workers--do not have a single paid day
off.
The numbers are particularly galling in the food service
industry, where only 15 percent of workers have paid sick days.
Food service is not an industry where we want employees showing
up to work with contagious viral infections. All of these
workers are forced to put their jobs on the line every time
they take a day off.
According to a 2008 study, one in six workers report that
they or a family member had been fired, suspended, punished, or
threatened with firing for taking time off due to personal
illness or to care for a sick relative. This is unacceptable.
It goes against who we are as a Nation.
Even if you do not agree that providing paid sick days is a
question of basic American values, there is more to the issue.
Establishing paid sick days is also about economic
competitiveness, income security for families, and, as HINI has
proved to us this past year, primarily the public health. In
fact, presenteeism, the practice of coming to work sick, costs
our national economy more than it would cost to provide paid
sick days. According to one study, $180 billion is lost
annually; meaning that right now employers pay an average of
about $255 per employee per year in lost productivity, more
than the cost of absenteeism and medical and disability
benefits.
The argument that we cannot afford to institute paid sick
days right now does not hold water. In fact, the opposite is
true. Passing paid sick days would boost productivity.
For all of these reasons and more, Senator Kennedy and I
first introduced the Healthy Families Act, 5 years ago. Our
bill would require employers with 15 or more workers to provide
7 days of earned paid sick leave annually for their own medical
needs or to care for a family member. For every 30 hours
worked, a worker earns 1 hour of paid sick leave. It's up to a
maximum of 56 hours. That's 7 days.
We re-introduced the bill last May. We have 120 cosponsors
in the House, 21 cosponsors in the Senate. The legislation is
supported by a broad coalition of over 130 State and national
groups, including the National Partnership for Women and
Families, the American Association of University Women,
MomsRising, and Business and Professional Women.
Paid sick days has always been a good and common sense
idea. But, in light of the recent H1N1 epidemic, it has also
become a necessary one. Since H1N1 was first diagnosed and the
dangers posed by widespread infection have been recognized, we
have seen countless public health officials, even the President
of the United States--they're on the television, they're on the
radio to ask folks to follow a simple guideline: If you get
sick, stay home from work or school, limit contact with others
to keep from infecting them.
Well, it may be all right for the President and others to
be on TV saying that that's what folks ought to do. Yet,
following this critical advice is virtually impossible for far
too many Americans right now. The President has wisely called a
national emergency to deal with H1N1, but in this economy too
many workers cannot answer the call. When more and more workers
are feeling economically vulnerable and afraid to even miss 1
workday, we face an extraordinarily serious health risk that
spreads much more quickly if the sick do not stay at home.
Which is why I'm happy to be working with you, Mr.
Chairman, on emergency legislation that will address the need
to act now on this issue. Our emergency legislation would
reflect the core principles of the Healthy Families Act. It
would allow workers, not employers, to decide when they are too
sick to work and when they are healthy enough to return. It
would cover caregiving, so that parents can stay home with sick
kids without risking their family's economic security. It would
provide job security for workers who are too sick to come to
work.
Passing the Healthy Families Act or emergency legislation
that reflects its core principles would finally give American
workers and their families the freedom to care for themselves
or a sick relative when they need to. It would save employers
money, encourage productivity, help to boost our economy. Most
importantly, right now it would protect the public health by
helping to stop the spread of dangerous viral infections like
H1N1.
I hope that we, in the Congress, can honor Senator
Kennedy's legacy by finding the strength and the will to get
this legislation passed for America's workers and families.
They have already waited too long.
I thank you again for the opportunity to be here this
morning to testify.
[The prepared statement of Ms. DeLauro follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Rosa L. DeLauro
Good morning. Thank you, Chairman Dodd, for the opportunity to
testify before the subcommittee today, and for all your leadership on
behalf of the American people. Through your hard work and tireless
advocacy, we now have the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Child Care
Development Block Grant, and countless other measures that help
American workers and families. I thank you for your continued
commitment to this cause.
I speak today not only on an issue of basic fairness, but one of
growing importance to our economy, particularly given our experience
with the H1N1 virus this year. And an issue to which my friend and your
colleague, the late Senator Kennedy, was passionately committed: paid
sick days.
I believe that paid sick days are a basic question of right and
wrong, as did Senator Kennedy. Yet, unlike 145 other nations, including
19 of the top 20 most economically competitive countries in the world--
that is to say, everyone but us--the United States does not guarantee a
single paid sick day to workers--not one day. The FMLA, which covers 60
percent of the workforce, is, as we all know, unpaid leave.
As such, right now 57 million Americans cannot take time off work
when they are sick, or when they need to stay home to care for an
ailing child or elderly relative. In fact, almost half of all private
sector workers--and 79 percent of low-
income workers--do not have a single paid day off. The numbers are
particularly galling in the food service industry, where only 15
percent of workers have paid sick days. Suffice to say, food service is
not an industry where we want employees showing up to work with
contagious viral infections.
All of these workers are forced to put their jobs on the line every
time they take a day off. According to a 2008 study, one in six workers
report that they or a family member had been fired, suspended, punished
or threatened with firing for taking time off due to personal illness
or to care for a sick relative.
To my mind, this is completely unacceptable. It goes against who we
are as a nation. But, even if you do not agree that providing paid sick
days is a question of basic American values, there is more to this
issue. Establishing paid sick days is also about economic
competitiveness, income security for families, and, as H1N1 has proved
to us this past year, primarily the public health.
In fact, ``presenteeism''--the practice of coming to work sick--
costs our national economy more than it would cost to provide paid sick
days. According to one study, $180 billion is lost annually, meaning
that, right now, employers pay an average of $255 per employee per year
in lost productivity, more than the cost of absenteeism and medical and
disability benefits. So, the argument that we cannot afford to
institute paid sick days right now does not hold water--In fact, the
opposite is true: passing paid sick days would boost productivity.
For all of these reasons and more, Senator Kennedy and I first
introduced the Healthy Families Act 5 years ago. Our bill would require
employers with 15 or more workers to provide 7 days of paid sick leave
annually for their own medical needs or to care for a family member.&
We re-introduced the bill last May, and have almost 120 co-sponsors
in the House and 21 co-sponsors in the Senate. This legislation is also
supported by a broad coalition of over 130 State and national groups,
including the National Partnership for Women and Families, the American
Association of University Women, Moms Rising, and Business &
Professional Women. &
Paid sick days has always been a good, common sense idea, but, in
light of the recent H1N1 epidemic, it has also become a necessary one.
Since H1N1 was first diagnosed and the dangers posed by widespread
infection have been recognized, we have seen countless public health
officials, and even the President, take to the airwaves to ask folks to
follow a simple guideline: If you get sick, stay home from work or
school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.&
And yet, following this critical advice is virtually impossible for
far too many Americans right now. The President has wisely called a
national emergency to deal with H1N1, but in this economy, too many
workers cannot answer the call. In fact, the convergence of a deadly
contagion like H1N1 spreading in this economic climate could well be
catastrophic. Right when more and more workers are feeling economically
vulnerable and afraid to even miss 1 workday, we face an
extraordinarily serious health risk that spreads much more quickly if
the sick do not stay at home.
That is why I am also happy to be working with the Chairman on
emergency legislation that will address the need to act now on this
issue. Our emergency legislation would reflect the core principles of
the Healthy Families Act. It would allow workers, not employers, to
decide when they are too sick to work and when they are healthy enough
to return. It would cover care-giving, so parents can stay home with
sick kids without risking their family's economic security. And it
would provide job security for workers who are too sick to come to
work.
Passing the Healthy Families Act, or emergency legislation that
reflects its core principles, would not only do right by American
workers and families, and finally give them the freedom to care for
themselves or a sick relative when they need to. It would save
employers money, encourage productivity, and help boost the economy.
And, most importantly right now, it would protect the public health by
helping to stop the spread of dangerous viral infections like H1N1.
It would also give us one more chance to honor the life's work of a
true champion of working people, Senator Kennedy. I wish he could have
been here today to help make this case. He cared very deeply about this
issue, and I know his passion and his eloquence would have steered us
all to action. Now that he has left us, I very much hope we in Congress
can honor his legacy once more, by finding the strength and the will to
get this legislation passed for America's workers and families. They
have already waited too long.
Thank you.
Senator Dodd. Well, Congresswoman, thank you very, very
much. Once again, eloquent testimony, and well researched, as
well. We thank you for your commitment, going back so many
years, on this issue.
I always, at times like this, like to thank colleagues, as
well. Dan Coats and Kit Bond, who were my cosponsors of the
Family Medical Leave Act, in a bipartisan effort in those days.
Orrin Hatch was my cosponsor on the Childcare Development Block
Grant Program, going back 25 years ago, now, in those areas.
We exempt, of course, a lot of small businesses, because
obviously--and I agree with Senator Enzi in that point, that
when--the smaller the business, the greater the likelihood
there's an understanding; as the numbers grow larger, they
become far more difficult for people to accommodate those
concerns and interests.
The statistic in my own opening statement, that still sort
of stunned me when I kept on reading it over and over again--
the fact that a person with H1N1 going to work, according to
the CDC, could contaminate or affect 10 percent of that
person's workforce, is rather breathtaking. So, beyond the
question of the impact, obviously, the idea that we would allow
a situation to persist that poses that much of a threat to our
country--and we're going to get these over and over again. Now,
this is--we'd like to think these are rare occasions. I only
wish they were. But, the reality of our world in which we live
today is that these kinds of issues will happen with great
frequency. We need to get smartened up and realize it's here,
and begin to deal with it in a comprehensive fashion, or we're
going to find ourselves stumbling through these issues, year
after year, without having the kind of national policy as to
how we address these questions.
We've always talked about a sick person in the family, or
you being sick--today we're looking at at least 600 school
districts closed across the country, or the ones we've had in
our home State of Connecticut. A lot of cases, that child
that's leaving school is not sick, you're not sick--so, we talk
about, normally, whether--when someone is ill. We've got a new
situation emerging. Today, with so many parents both holding
jobs, there isn't anyone at home. The neighborhoods that we
grew up in--I certainly did in the 1950s and 1960s, where there
was always someone around there who could take on the
responsibility, there was always the next-door neighbor, there
was always the aunt, there was the grandparent, all those
things--that's a bygone era. They don't exist anymore. They're
not there, in most neighborhoods.
When you're coming back, and your child all of a sudden is
being told, ``Go home,'' there isn't anyone home. As Jane Grady
pointed out yesterday, when you've got an 11-year-old, and
you're sending him home, where there's no one there. These
situations demand far more creative thinking than we've been
able to provide. Well, we're going to find more serious
problems with it.
Anyway, you've answered the question, to some extent, in
your testimony but, the question is, How can the need for paid
sick days, that we're seeing during the H1N1 situation, point
to a need for a broader Federal policy? That's one question I'd
ask you to address.
And, second, this notion, again, that, in a competitive
environment, where we're going to--we now spend three times
that of our major global competitors, economically, to run
healthcare, and obviously to a significant disadvantage as we
try to compete globally in a more competitive global economy.
The fact that we're in the company--and I say this respectfully
of these countries, but Lesotho, Liberia, Papa New Guinea and
Swaziland----
Ms. DeLauro. They can do it.
Senator Dodd [continuing]. Those are the four other
countries that we're--and the United States--the fifth. Those
are the five countries that don't have paid sick leave in the
world. That's nice company--that say this--five nations, four
of whom are struggling economies, barely surviving as nation-
states, along with the richest, most affluent country in the
world. The arguments we hear about this are the one's we've
heard historically. When it comes to work hours, occupational
safety standards, it's always the same argument, in a sense. We
would be in a very different place in this country had we not
had the imaginative and forceful legislation of Senator Kennedy
and others over the years to try and make it possible and
understand the value of having an American worker that can
produce and be productive.
I wonder if you might comment on that, as well as on the
idea of looking for a broader national Federal policy.
Ms. DeLauro. Oh, I would be happy to. I think what has
really focused people's attention on the whole issue of paid
sick days--because Senator Kennedy and I have been talking
about this, and others have been talking about it for last 5
years--but, what I think has crystallized the issue for all of
us is the H1N1 crisis. The admonition to people is, ``Stay
home. Be home.'' What does that mean for a single parent? What
does that mean for a two-family parent? Yeah, when I got sick,
my mother worked, Dad worked. I went to my grandmother's pastry
store, and I had great care and great pastry. That is not the
circumstance for 57 million people who work in the private
sector. They don't have that advantage.
Now, I think, given that, as you have pointed out, one
needs to deal with the underlying issue, the more fundamental
issue of uniformity of a policy, a national policy, that is
uniform. We could all come up with--you could have 50 States
coming up with a particular plan to meet a need.
Emergencies will continue to occur. The basic underlying
fact is that 57 million people in the United States of
America--one, as you pointed out, of four countries, certainly
not amongst the industrialized countries, all of whom are
experiencing, quite frankly, economic difficulties--find that
this is basically the right thing to do, to allow for paid sick
days. Let us have a national policy that meets the needs of
working families today.
Also, in terms of that competitive edge, that study that I
made reference to was done by Cornell University, that talked
about, in fact, that it was better, in terms of bottom line,
because of the loss in productivity, the loss of potentially--
an average, over $250 per employee, that if that person had
paid sick days, and you were dealing with both disability and
benefits, that you would not be losing as much by not having
any paid sick policy at all.
I understand the comment about small businesses, and
there's a real awareness in the legislation with regard to
small business. The Healthy Families Act includes a small-
business exemption. If a company has fewer than 15 employees,
HFA does not apply. There was a recognition that small
businesses have challenges that others may not have. The
threshold is consistent with title VII and other labor laws.
Let me just also mention this to you, that if--because,
Senator Enzi, as you said--that there are others who have a
more generous policy. Well, as a matter of fact, what the
legislation says is that employers who already provide at least
56 hours of paid leave, paid sick time, paid time off, do not
have to change their existing policies, as long as the time can
be used for the purposes that are set out in the Healthy
Families Act.
We want to recognize that there are people and employers
who have made accommodations and understand the needs of their
employees. But, you can't fly in the face of 57 million people
who work in the private sector who do not have that
opportunity.
I'll make one other comment. You know, we work in the
public sector. We go to the head of the line when we're ill,
and probably when our families are ill. We can take as much
time as we want. There is no one saying, ``Your job isn't going
to be there,'' ``Your salary isn't going to be there,'' or,
``You can't do it.''
I'll end with this--and Senator Dodd may not be pleased
with me for saying this--but I had a direct experience 23 years
ago. Diagnosed with ovarian cancer, I went to my employer at
that time--Senator Christopher Dodd--and explained my
situation. I was about to take leave from the Senate office to
head up a re-election campaign in 1986. Senator Dodd said to
me, ``Rosa, go get yourself well. Don't worry about your job as
chief of staff, don't worry about the campaign. It's there. It
begins when you get back.''
That's not the situation for 57 million people in this
country. We are not special. We don't live in a rarified air.
We need to walk in the shoes of the millions of Americans who
work hard every day to support their families. Yes, they get
sick, whether they're in a large business or in a small
business. And my view is that we do have moral obligations and
responsibilities as Members of Congress to help people meet the
challenges that they face in their lives. That's why I hope we
can, in fact, pass emergency legislation and the Healthy
Families Act.
I thank you again for the opportunity to testify.
Senator Dodd. Thank you very much, Congresswoman. Thank you
for that story. By the way, we won that election when you came
back.
[Laughter.]
Ms. DeLauro. Yes we did.
Senator Dodd. Senator Enzi.
Senator Enzi. Mr. Chairman, in keeping with the tradition
of the committee, I won't have a question for the
Congresswoman. But, I will raise a few points in response to
some of the things that have been said here.
[Laughter.]
Numbers aren't telling the whole story in this case. No
doubt there are small businesses who are not able to have a
paid leave policy in place officially. But, I guarantee you
that they handle those people's situation on a case-by-case
basis. They can't have sick people at work. Customers can tell
if somebody's sick. They don't want sick people around them.
Those people are taken care of, and if they want to keep them,
they're taken care of in a method that provides them with some
pay.
Now, every employer won't be able to do that. I would tell
you that I think the small employers probably want to do it
more than the big employers. To the small employer, the
employee is really a person. To the big employers, it's a
number out there, and if you've got to make the bottom line
come out right, you move the numbers around to where it fits.
But, that doesn't happen in small business, for the most part.
There are always exceptions.
I have some real-life examples, too. I have a daughter that
has one of my grandchildren. And she has a babysitter. If one
of the kids at the babysitter is sick, all of them get sent
home. That means that my daughter has to take off from work and
go home and be with the baby. There's a leave policy, but it's
not a paid leave policy. I understand this, and I suppose some
would assume I ought to really be rooting for it on the basis
of my daughter. She really likes the flexibility that she gets
in her job, and she likes what she gets paid, and so, it is
worth it to her to accommodate that.
It's been mentioned that we can take as much time as we
want here. I couldn't, when I had a small business. If I got
sick, I had to show up, because there wasn't anybody that was
going to do what I did. If I was really sick, and I couldn't
show up, the business suffered.
I'm a little surprised at your statement that your mom sent
you to the bakery.
[Laughter.]
We're going to be handling food safety here, pretty quick.
Ms. DeLauro. But I didn't handle the food.
Senator Enzi. This bill takes the small business definition
down from 50 employees that are presently covered by FMLA,
which is not paid leave, down to 15. And the smaller the
business is, the less flexibility with spare employees there
is. We're in an economy now, where if I'm the guy that has 15
employees, do you think I'd hire a 16th one, with us
considering this piece of legislation? I wouldn't be able to.
That would force me into a situation. As a small business
employer we had paid sick leave, so I know the problems that
come with sick leave, as well. You have some employees that
never take it, and you have others that don't have a half a day
of earned sick leave available to them because the minute they
do, they take it, for whatever purpose. It's pretty hard to
question those purposes.
I'll be interested in reviewing, in the bill, what the
exceptions are. I'm curious as to whether it can be accrued,
whether it carries over from year to year, and whether you get
compensated for unused sick leave if you leave the business?
Those are all questions that the employers have to deal with,
plus the part-of-an-hour times that people are gone, for
whatever medical reason. A lot of bookkeeping things are
involved in this and the more of these things that you add to
business, the less likely they are to be able to expand and
hire other employees, in a time when we need to be hiring other
employees. We need to be getting people employed.
People are waiting now on startups on business, waiting to
see what kind of rules and regulations they're going to have to
have when they start up. They are concerned we could take away
their flexibility and make all businesses the same in this
area. I don't think that'll help the employment situation.
I don't have any questions.
Senator Dodd. Rosa, we thank you immensely. I don't know if
Congressman Merkley or--I said Congressman--Senator Merkley--
Jeff, I apologize--it was Congresswoman DeLauro.
Senator Murray, welcome, as well. Do you have any questions
for the Congresswoman?
Senator Merkley. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I'd just
like to give the Congresswoman a chance to elucidate on some of
those questions on carryover, or compensation for unused sick
leave, or any of those other details that might be helpful to
understanding how this would work when the rubber hits the
road.
Ms. DeLauro. The legislation is silent on those issues, and
those are the details that can get worked out.
I just might add that I can recall very similar kinds of
conversations when we were going through the Family and Medical
Leave, that we were going to, really--that American business
was going to go to hell in a hand basket, quite frankly. That
it was going to end--our small businesses--it was going to
bring that to a crashing halt. I think we haven't seen that to
be the case with Family and Medical Leave. I think there are
lots of the details obviously to get sorted out and worked out,
which is the way they did with Family and Medical Leave, and
how it can proceed forward.
I will give you another example of where I found this to be
so poignant. I had the opportunity to meet with the families of
some of our troops overseas, in Iraq and Afghanistan, and, as
it turned out, most of the families were young women with small
children. I will tell you that it was a real awakening, in
terms of talking about emergencies and so forth, of what comes
up. We think about H1N1.
These young women were really frightened. Obviously,
they're frightened on a whole variety of issues that have to do
with the survival of a spouse. But, they were working women.
They did have their kids in daycare, or where ever they had
them during the day. They didn't have paid sick time--they got
sick, their kids got sick. I know, personally, because we had a
case in our office, where we went to bat for a young woman who
was told, her job was coming to an end because she took 3 days
off with a child.
This is a real issue for working men and women in this
country. If we don't believe we have to address it, as we have
other public policy issues that directly affect working
families, we're not going back to an economic situation where
you have someone who is home all day, and who is waiting for
children to come home or can stay there. That's not what our
opportunity is. I think we can get to sorting out what the
details are, and making sure that we're not putting--the goal
is not to put people out of business. The goal is to try to
make sure we have a public policy that ensures that people have
adequate kinds of assistance when they get sick, or their kids
get sick, or an elderly relative gets sick.
Senator Dodd. Thank you very much, Congresswoman.
Thank you, Senator Merkley.
Senator Merkley. Thank you.
Ms. DeLauro. Thank you, Senator.
Senator Dodd. Senator Murray.
Senator Murray. Mr. Chairman, I do not have a question for
Representative DeLauro. I do thank you for being here.
I really want to thank you for having this hearing. This is
such a dilemma for families today, with the current H1N1 issue.
Families are having to decide between a tough economy, where
they don't have income, and following the regulations of
staying home that CDC has issued. We shouldn't put families in
that bind. We should make sure that they stay home when they're
sick, so that they don't spread the flu, but they don't lose
their ability to put food on the table and pay their mortgage
at the same time. I really appreciate your holding this hearing
today.
Senator Dodd. Thanks very much. Thank you, Senator, very
much.
Congresswoman, we thank you immensely.
Ms. DeLauro. Thank you Mr. Chairman, thank you Senator
Enzi. Thank you.
Senator Dodd. Let me invite our second panel to come on up
and join us.
Welcome Deputy Secretary Seth Harris to the subcommittee
today. I look forward to his testimony on behalf of the
Department of Labor. Mr. Harris was nominated to be Deputy
Secretary of Labor on February 23, 2009. Prior to his position
at DOL, Mr. Harris was a professor of the law at New York Law
School, and director of its labor and employment law programs.
He's also a member of the National Advisory Commission on
Workplace Flexibility. He also served at the Department of
Labor during the Clinton administration. And is a graduate of
NYU and Cornell University.
We thank you, Mr. Harris, for joining us.
I'd also like to welcome Rear Admiral Anna Schuchat. Did I
pronounce that correctly, the last name? Doctor, we welcome you
very much. Dr. Schuchat first joined the CDC in 1988. She has
done extensive work in preventing infectious diseases in
children. She has worked in a variety of countries, on topics
including meningitis and pneumonia vaccine studies,
surveillance, and prevention; and SARS emergency response and
epidemiological studies. Dr. Schuchat attended Swarthmore
College, Dartmouth Medical School, and now serves as CDC's
deputy director for science and program.
We welcome you, Doctor, to the committee, as well.
Why don't we begin with you, Secretary Harris, and then
we'll go right to Dr. Schuchat.
STATEMENT OF HON. SETH D. HARRIS, DEPUTY SECRETARY, U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, WASHINGTON, DC
Mr. Harris. Thank you very much, Chairman Dodd, Senator
Enzi, Senator Murray, and Senator Merkley. I appreciate the
opportunity to testify about workplace flexibility and paid
leave in the context of the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic.
Mr. Chairman, I'd like to begin by acknowledging your
outstanding leadership on these most critical issues. You're
the father of the Family and Medical Leave Act, and one of the
Nation's most important advocates for America's working parents
and their children. Whether fighting to ensure that children
receive the H1N1 vaccine, or to extend the Family and Medical
Leave Act to our military heroes, you've shown over and over
again your deep and abiding commitment to Americans who are
struggling to perform their jobs while also caring for
themselves and their loved ones at home. It's essential work,
and we're fortunate to have you leading the way, sir.
I'd also like to acknowledge Congresswoman DeLauro for her
comments this morning, and for her continuing and tireless work
on behalf of our Nation's hardworking families.
Mr. Chairman, we live in a time of pandemic. Much has been
done to prepare for the 2009 H1N1 public health emergency, but
more must be done to protect the economic security of working
families when illness strikes. Our current system forces too
many sick workers to go to work, and too many working parents
to send sick children to school or daycare. This system poses a
threat to our public health, our economic future, and a social
system that depends heavily on people caring for themselves and
their family members.
Full economic security for workers who must tend to their
own illnesses or the illnesses of their family members requires
two assurances. First, workers who take leave must not lose
their jobs or suffer some other form of discipline from their
employers. And second, they must have a source of income during
any leave period. Under our existing legal regime, millions of
workers get neither of these two assurances. Current Federal
law does not mandate employers to provide paid, job-protected
leave to their workers.
The Family and Medical Leave Act has helped millions of
workers take unpaid leave without fear of firing or discipline,
but the FMLA protects only those workers employed by employers
with more than 50 employees, and only if the employees meet
certain eligibility criteria. Even if both the employer and the
employee are covered by the FMLA, leave is available only for
serious health conditions, which would not include a large
percentage of cases of the 2009 H1N1 flu, the seasonal flu, and
other common and contagious diseases. Equally important, many
workers simply cannot afford to take the unpaid leave provided
by the FMLA.
In 2008, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that only 61
percent of private sector employees are offered paid sick leave
for their own illness or injury, and high-wage workers were
more likely to have paid leave than low-wage workers; only 49
percent of low-wage workers have access to paid sick or
personal leave. Other Federal laws and programs also do not
provide workers with job security or income when they're sick
or need to take time off to care for their family members.
Unemployment insurance and disaster unemployment assistance
cover workers only if they are able and available to work. A
worker who cannot work because of illness or caregiving
responsibilities would not be eligible. The bottom line for
sick workers and workers with sick family members is that
taking leave risks their jobs and their ability to support
their families.
The situation is a concern for employers as well as
employees. The CDC reports--as you said, Mr. Chairman--on
average, that an individual who comes to work with the H1N1 flu
will infect 10 percent of his or her coworkers. Instead of one
sick worker staying home, an employer could end up with dozens
of sick workers, who are unproductive, making their coworkers
unproductive, and potentially spreading a contagious disease to
their families and friends. It is common sense and good
business sense. Workers should be able to stay home if they are
ill.
On August 19, 2009, Secretary Solis joined the Secretaries
of Health and Human Services, Commerce, and Homeland Security
in announcing the CDC's updated guidance to employers on how to
respond to the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. The guidance notes that,
``Employers play a key role in community mitigation.'' That is,
efforts by all of us to limit the pandemic's effects. Central
to community mitigation is that all people with influenza-like
illness should stay home and away from the workplace.
That's why this Administration strongly supports the
Healthy Families Act. This legislation would ensure that
millions more of working Americans will be able to earn up to
56 hours of paid sick time for family care or self care.
Simply, the Healthy Families Act provides the assurances that
workers need. It assures them job security when they take sick
leave or leave to care for a family member, it provides short-
term continuation of the workers' income, while they recuperate
from illness or provide needed care to a family member.
Mr. Chairman, the current system is broken. We welcome the
opportunity to work with you and the other members of this
committee to fix it.
Once again, thank you very much for inviting me to testify
today. I look forward to your questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Harris follows:]
Prepared Statement of Seth Harris
Good morning Chairman Dodd, Ranking Member Alexander, and members
of the committee. I am pleased to join you and share the regards of
Secretary Solis.
The vision of the Department of Labor (DOL) is good jobs for
everyone. One important component of this vision is ensuring workplace
flexibility for family and personal care-giving. While much has been
done to help prepare for a public health emergency like the current
2009 H1N1 pandemic, the Administration believes that more must be done
to help protect the economic security of working families who often
must choose between a pay check and their health and the health of
their families.
Today, I will address current Federal leave law and regulations as
they pertain to the private sector, the challenges which arise during
times of widespread illness, such as H1N1, and the Administration's
support for paid leave and increased workplace flexibility policies
such as the proposal introduced earlier this year by Senator Kennedy,
the Healthy Families Act.
Current Federal law does not mandate that employers provide paid
leave to their workers. Rather, the only Federal law on leave, the
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), requires employers with 50 or more
employees to provide unpaid leave to eligible workers under a limited
set of circumstances. Under FMLA, covered and eligible employees are
entitled to take up to 12 workweeks each year of job-protected, unpaid
leave for the ``serious health condition'' of the employee or of the
employee's son, daughter, spouse or parent where the reason for the
leave meets the strict requirements of the FMLA. In many instances of
leave needed in response to a widespread public health emergency, such
as the 2009 H1N1, the FMLA will simply not provide protections. An
estimated 60 percent of the workforce is covered and eligible for
unpaid leave but only when the leave is for reasons that qualify
pursuant to the strict FMLA standards.
Other Federal laws and programs generally do not provide much
assistance to workers needing job security and income when they are
sick or need to take time off to care for family members.
Unemployment Insurance (UI) and Disaster Unemployment Assistance
(DUA) do not cover workers who may lose their jobs and are not ``able
and available to work'' (with a limited exception under DUA for workers
injured by a disaster). During a pandemic, individuals who are laid off
because their work site is closed or because business has declined due
to an outbreak would be eligible for regular UI as long as they are
able to, available for, and actively seeking work. The UI program does
not cover individuals who are sick, are caring for someone who is sick,
are caring for well children dismissed from school, or are otherwise
not available and actively seeking work.
Individuals ineligible for regular UI who lost their jobs as a
direct result of a major disaster declared due to severe pandemic flu
and individuals who are unemployed because they contract the flu and
are unable to work might qualify for DUA. However, individuals who are
unemployed because they are caring for sick family members, are caring
for children whose schools have been closed, or are quarantined, are
generally not ``able and available'' and would not be eligible for DUA.
DUA would also not be payable to individuals whose unemployment is only
indirectly related to the severe pandemic flu outbreak and is only
available if there is a disaster declaration.
In 2008, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) surveyed private
sector employers about their leave policies. While approximately 7 in
10 employees received paid leave to attend jury duty and funerals, only
61 percent of private sector employees were offered sick pay for their
own illness or injury. Thirty-seven percent of employees were offered
paid time off for personal reasons, and 8 percent were offered paid
leave for family reasons. Federal, State and local government
employees' access to paid and unpaid leave is greater than private
sector employees' for all types of leave.
A variety of factors are associated with the availability of paid
leave. In its March 2008 National Compensation Survey, the BLS found
that the availability of paid leave increases with income. Eighty-three
percent of the highest-paid workers (wages in the top 10th percentile
and above) had access to paid sick leave, compared to just 23 percent
of the lowest paid workers (bottom 10th percentile). In addition, 54
percent of the highest paid workers were able to access paid leave for
personal reasons compared to 17 percent of the lowest paid workers.
Low-wage workers have less access to paid leave, and thus are more
likely to go to work even if they are sick or their child is sick. Only
49 percent of low-wage workers have access to paid sick leave or
personal leave or family leave or vacation.\1\ Particularly vulnerable
are the 3.7 million working adults in households with children under 14
years old and no other adult or older child to share child caring
responsibilities. Single parents and low-wage workers can find it
challenging to stay home even for a few days.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Low-wage workers are defined as workers earning less than $7.25
an hour in March 2008. Iris S. Diaz and Richard Wallick, ``Leisure and
illness leave: estimating benefits in combination,'' Monthly Labor
Review, February 2009, Volt. 132, No. 2.
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The lack of paid leave and other workplace flexibilities has
significant impacts on the Nation's workforce. This lack of access to
paid leave forces many workers to choose between taking care of their
health and the health of their families and paying their bills. This is
made even more troublesome when the illness is contagious, like
seasonal and pandemic influenza, given that the consequences of
employee's decisions to go to work when ill or to send a sick child to
school can adversely affect many others.
Flu activity is now widespread in 48 States. According to the CDC,
of all visits to doctors nationally, the proportion that are for
influenza-like-illness continues to increase steeply and is now higher
than what is seen at the peak of many regular flu seasons. In addition,
flu-related hospitalizations and deaths continue to rise
nationwide and are above what is expected for this time of year.
In the context of the current 2009 H1N1 pandemic, FMLA job
protections may be available to relatively few workers who need leave.
For example, healthy workers who stay at home to care for their healthy
children while schools are closed would not be covered. Additionally,
FMLA leave would only be available if the covered and eligible
employee's or family member's medical condition meets the definition of
a ``serious health condition.'' For example, where the individual with
2009 H1N1 is not hospitalized, the employee or family member would have
to receive in-person treatment from a health care provider within 7
days of the onset of incapacity and have a second in-person treatment
visit within 30 days or otherwise meet continuing regimen of treatment
requirements for the illness to qualify as a ``serious health
condition,'' a requirement that may be difficult to meet if public
health officials recommend that the majority of sick individuals not
seek medical treatment absent complications. Moreover, even where an
employee's leave is covered by FMLA, this law does not address the
problems associated with employees lacking access to pay while on
leave. Even in the rare instances when the illness is serious enough to
meet these qualifications, this law does not help those who cannot
afford to take time off because their employer does not offer paid
leave or if they have used whatever paid leave they have. It also does
not help those who need to care for their extended family members.
Employer-provided workplace flexibilities could help workers who
need time off during a pandemic--as well as in ordinary times. However,
according to BLS, private industry employers offer formal flexible
workplace arrangements \2\ to only 5 percent of workers. Like paid sick
leave, eligibility for flexible work arrangements is higher for full-
time workers than part-time and increases with income.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ Flexible workplace arrangements are ``the ability to work an
agreed-upon portion of a work schedule at home or some other approved
location, such as a regional work center.''
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Given the lack of Federal laws regarding paid leave, five States
have used temporary disability insurance programs to provide income to
workers who experience non-occupational illnesses or injuries.
California and New Jersey have implemented paid leave programs in
addition to their temporary disability insurance programs. In addition,
several cities have passed ordinances requiring certain employers to
provide paid sick leave to their employees, though these plans were
established many years ago--not necessarily in response to current
conditions.
The scope of the current 2009 H1N1 public health emergency
demonstrates the need for paid leave and flexible workplace policies.
The goal of the U.S. Government and its State and local partners to
date has been to slow the spread of a pandemic and mitigate its social
and economic impact through the use of antivirals and non-
pharmaceutical interventions, often referred to as community mitigation
strategies. The Federal Government adopted community mitigation as
Federal policy in 2007.\3\
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\3\ See Community Strategy for Pandemic Influenza Mitigation (CMG).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
On August 19, 2009, Secretary Solis joined the Secretaries of
Health and Human Services, Commerce and Homeland Security in issuing a
letter announcing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's
(CDC) updated guidance to employers on how to respond to the 2009 H1N1
pandemic. CDC notes in their guidance that businesses and other
employers play a key role in protecting employees' health and safety,
as well as in limiting the negative impact of influenza outbreaks on
the individual, the community, and the Nation's economy. I would like
to share a few highlights from this guidance that are most relevant to
the question before the subcommittee today.
First, the guidance recognized that all employers must balance a
variety of objectives when determining how best to decrease the spread
of influenza and lower the impact of influenza in the workplace. They
should consider and communicate their objectives, which may include one
or more of the following: (a) reducing transmission among staff, (b)
protecting people who are at increased risk of influenza-related
complications from getting infected with influenza, (c) maintaining
business operations, and (d) minimizing adverse effects on other
entities in their supply chains.
Second, the guidance noted that during an influenza pandemic, all
people with influenza-like illness should stay home and away from the
workplace. If the severity of illness increases, employers should be
ready to implement additional measures and public health officials may
recommend a variety of methods for increasing the physical distance
between people (called social distancing) to reduce the spread of
disease. These could include school dismissal, child care program
closure, canceling large community gatherings, canceling large
business-related meetings, spacing workers farther apart in the
workplace, canceling non-essential travel, and utilizing work-from-home
strategies for workers who can conduct their business remotely.
CDC recommends that people with influenza-like illness remain at
home until at least 24 hours after they are free of fever (100 F
[37.8 C]), or signs of a fever without the use of fever-reducing
medications to reduce the number of people infected. In most cases,
this means staying home 3 to 5 days.
CDC has asked employers to allow sick workers to stay home without
fear of losing their jobs and to develop other flexible leave policies
to allow workers to stay home to care for sick family members or for
children if schools dismiss students or child care programs close.
While the Federal Government has been working diligently to provide
guidance and implement community mitigation strategies, these
strategies often do not help address the economic conditions facing
families without leave.
For example, during a severe pandemic, compliance with community
mitigation measures, including home isolation, quarantine and school
closures (particularly extended school closures), would have a negative
economic impact on many workers and their families. As I mentioned
previously, a significant number of workers do not have access to
sufficient paid or unpaid job-protected leave, nor do many have access
to other workplace flexibilities, such as telework, which would allow
them to stay home when sick or when exposed to someone who is sick
(self-quarantine), to care for a family member who is sick, or to care
for a child dismissed from school.
Staying home from work in compliance with community mitigation will
cost workers income because they are on unpaid leave--or could cost
them their jobs if they are laid off because they cannot come to work.
These issues are of particular concern for low-wage, part-time and
otherwise vulnerable workers. Such single parents and low-wage workers
will find it particularly challenging to care for a child dismissed
from school for an extended period of time during a severe pandemic.
The economic cost to working families associated with the lack of
paid leave is significant not only during times of influenza pandemics.
These are decisions that working families must make daily--choices
between keeping their jobs and taking care of their health and the
health of their children.
In addition, paid leave represents a relatively small share of
total compensation costs. In its June 2009 Employer Costs of Employer
Compensation survey, BLS calculated the costs of paid leave borne by
employers. All types of paid leave for private industry add up to 6.8
percent of total compensation costs, or $1.85 per employee hour out of
$27.42. BLS also reports employer costs for paid leave across different
occupational groups. Workers in the highest paid category--management
and professional--earn a total of $48.96 per hour and their paid leave
equals 8.4 percent of total compensation. The lowest paid occupational
group--service workers--earn on average $13.15 per hour, only slightly
more than 25 percent of the rate for management and professional. Paid
leave for this group accounts for only 4.2 percent of their total
compensation.
The Healthy Families Act offers an important opportunity to provide
workers with economic security by assuring that they have the ability
to stay home if they are sick without fear of losing their jobs or
being forced to go to work sick because they cannot afford to stay
home. We support this bill and look forward to working with you on it
as it moves through the legislative process.
As mentioned, the vision for the Department of Labor is good jobs
for everyone. And one of the key components of a good job is having
workplace flexibility for family and personal caregiving. We believe
that work-life balance includes policies such as paid leave, flexible
work schedules and teleworking, employee assistance programs,
childcare, and elder-care support. Jointly with our colleagues in the
Cabinet, DOL is working to improve work-life policies, and efforts are
underway to see how we can better meet the needs of modern working
families.
Finally, an important part of helping families stay healthy and
ensuring employers have a productive workforce is health insurance
reform. Health insurance reform can relieve the burden of rising health
care costs on small businesses, increase accessibility for young
adults, increase transparency and accountability in the insurance
industry, empower consumers, lower costs, reform the delivery system,
improve the quality of care, simplify the administrative bureaucracy,
and give consumers more knowledge and more bargaining power. We
encourage the Senate to pass health insurance reform.
In conclusion, it is clear that while much has been done to help
prepare for a national health emergency like 2009 H1N1, more is needed
to help protect the economic security of working families who must
choose between a pay check and their health and the health of their
families. That is why the Administration supports the Healthy Families
Act and other proposals that advance workplace flexibility and protect
the income and security of workers. I appreciate your time today, and I
am happy to answer any questions you may have.
Senator Dodd. Thank you very much, Secretary Harris.
Doctor, we welcome again. You've been before the committee
in the past, so we welcome you here again.
STATEMENT OF ANNE SCHUCHAT, M.D., ACTING DEPUTY
DIRECTOR FOR SCIENCE AND PROGRAM, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL
AND PREVENTION AND ASSISTANT SURGEON GENERAL, U.S. PUBLIC
HEALTH SERVICE, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES,
ATLANTA, GA
Dr. Schuchat. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you,
Senator Enzi and members of the committee. It's a pleasure to
update you on the Administration's response to the H1N1 virus,
and comment on the impact this pandemic is having on work,
school, and our society.
Many millions of Americans have already been infected with
the 2009 H1N1 strain. Thousands of hospitalizations and more
than 1,000 deaths have occurred already. The virus is
widespread now, in 48 States. So far there is no change in the
illness pattern caused by the virus.
This is disproportionately a younger person's disease. It
disproportionally affects adults with chronic conditions such
as asthma, diabetes, conditions that are far too common in 2009
in America. It also disproportionally affects pregnant women,
who have suffered hospitalizations and deaths to a great
extent.
So far, our CDC scientists have found no change in the
virus. There's been no genetic change that would make this--
escape the protection that vaccines will afford, and no change
to rapidly increase the proportion of strains that are
resistant to our medicines, like TAMIFLU. However, influenza is
unpredictable, and it is unpredictable what trajectory this
virus will have in the weeks and months ahead. Only time will
tell.
CDC's role in this H1N1 response has been aggressive and
science-based. I'd like to thank the Congress and this
committee for the many years with which you have recognized
that public health is integral to public safety. The
investments that Congress has made in preparedness over the
past several years mean that we are far better prepared for
this response than we would have been. I shudder to think how
we would be doing had H1N1 hit our shores 4 or 5 years ago.
We rapidly identified this new virus and characterized it;
we developed a candidate vaccine strain and handed it off to
industry to develop vaccines; we carried out epidemiologic and
laboratory surveillance in the United States and abroad. We
have had an aggressive, comprehensive, and science-based
response, rapidly deploying CDC assets, like life-saving anti-
viral medicines that were part of our strategic national
stockpile. Laboratory kits that were rapidly developed through
pandemic flu investments were shipped to all of the public
health labs in the United States and to more than 150 other
countries so we cold track the spread of this virus and
understand whether it was changing, and make sure that the
vaccines under development would still work.
We deployed field teams to provide technical assistance at
home and abroad. We've issued a series of science-based
guidance that we have updated as the science has changed or
come to light. We've shared these with key sectors, including
the healthcare system. We've focused on prevention for schools,
businesses, and healthcare workers, and on treatment with
antivirals, focusing on outreach to providers, to pharmacies,
and to the public. We have had an aggressive and multifaceted
communication strategy, using traditional media and new media.
We have focused on the shared responsibility each of us plays
in responding to the H1N1 virus, stressing that ill people
should stay home from school or work, and avoid spreading the
virus to others. We have launched a voluntary immunization
program.
The vaccination effort has been unprecedented, from
developing the strain virus for vaccine development, the
exquisitely expert clinical trials that the NIH carried out,
issuing science-based recommendations for use of these
vaccines. It is a public-private partnership.
We are very disappointed in the initial production of the
vaccine. These are made using biologic processes, egg-based
technology that is tried and true, but that is fragile. We are,
to some extent, a victim of a slow-growing virus that has not
cooperated. Now the production is accelerating and we are
seeing substantial amounts of vaccine becoming available. We
are receiving, ordering, delivering, rapidly, the vaccine
doses. As of today, 41.1 million doses of H1N1 vaccines are
available for the States to order. Three-fourths of this is in
the form of injectable vaccine and one-quarter is the nasal
spray. The pace of our progress is truly picking up.
We have prioritized five groups for early use of the
vaccine, the groups that are at highest risk for disease or its
complications or most likely to spread infection. The State and
local health authorities are in the position of making
decisions on the best ways to reach these priority populations.
It is important for us to use every dose of vaccine as it
becomes available to slow the spread of this pandemic and to
protect the most vulnerable parts of our population.
We have developed this vaccine in record time without any
shortcuts on safety. We have also enhanced our vaccine safety
system to be ready for concerns, to try to make sure that if
there are unanticipated problems, we find them quickly and
respond appropriately. We are working hard across Health and
Human Services and with all of the Federal Government to manage
this response, but fundamentally we are relying on State and
local public health to direct the vaccination efforts in their
communities.
This pandemic did not come at a good time for our economy,
and the public health infrastructure around the country has
been frayed. But, H1N1 does highlight the need for long-term
investing in that infrastructure. This hearing, though,
highlights the human and economic impact of influenza and other
illness on the workplace and on business continuity. Our CDC
guidance has recommended that individuals stay home when they
are sick and not spread infection in the workplace. We've asked
businesses to be flexible about leave policy, and, where
appropriate, to encourage issues, like telecommuting, that
would reduce spread in the workplace.
It's really important to have the right policies in place
and to plan for contingencies, but our goal really is to make
it easy for people to make the right choices, to make the
healthy choices. I really applaud the committee for taking this
issue seriously.
My colleagues and I at CDC and across Health and Human
Services are committed to sustaining communication and to
answering your questions going forward.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Schuchat follows:]
Prepared Statement of Rear Admiral Anne Schuchat, M.D.
Chairman Dodd, Ranking Member Alexander, members of the committee,
thank you for this opportunity to update you on the public health
challenges of 2009 H1N1 influenza.
CDC and our colleagues throughout the Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS) are working in close partnership with many parts
of the Federal Government, as well as States and localities, under a
national preparedness and response framework for action that builds on
the efforts and lessons learned this previous spring and from past
influenza preparedness trainings. Working together with governors,
mayors, tribal leaders, State and local health departments, the medical
community and our private sector partners, we have been monitoring the
spread of H1N1 and facilitating prevention and treatment, including
starting to implement a vaccination program.
Influenza is probably the least predictable of all infectious
diseases, and the 2009 H1N1 pandemic has presented considerable
challenges--in particular the delay in production of a vaccine due to
slow growth of the virus during the manufacturing process. Today I will
update you on the overall situation, provide an update on vaccination
status, and discuss other steps we are taking to address these
challenges.
This hearing is also an important opportunity to consider the
impact this pandemic has had on work, school, and society. And although
we are focused this year on the impact of the H1N1 pandemic, it is
important to remember that even in a normal year, individuals and
institutions are impacted by illnesses, as reflected in lost work and
school days and lower productivity. Data from our National Center for
Health Statistics in 2008 show, for example, that employed adults 18
years of age and over experienced an average of 4.4 work-loss days per
person due to illness or injury in the past 12 months, for a total of
approximately 698 million work-loss days.
TRACKING AND MONITORING INFLUENZA ACTIVITY
One major area of effort is the tracking and monitoring of
influenza activity, which helps individuals and institutions monitor
and understand the impact of the 2009 H1N1 virus. Since the initial
spring emergence of 2009 H1N1 influenza, the virus has spread
throughout the world. H1N1 was the dominant strain of influenza in the
southern hemisphere during its winter flu season. Data about the virus
from around the world--much of it collected with CDC assistance--have
shown that the circulating pandemic H1N1 virus has not mutated
significantly since the spring, and the virus remains very closely
matched to the 2009 H1N1 vaccine. This virus also remains susceptible
to the antiviral drugs oseltamivir and zanamivir, with very rare
exception.
Unlike in a usual influenza season, flu activity in the United
States continued throughout the summer, at summer camps and elsewhere.
More recently, we have seen widespread influenza activity in 48 States;
any reports of widespread influenza this early in the season are very
unusual. Visits to doctors for influenza-like illness as well as flu-
related hospitalizations and deaths among children and young adults
also are higher than expected for this time of year. We are also
already observing that more communities are affected than those that
experienced H1N1 outbreaks this past spring and summer.
Almost all of the influenza viruses identified so far this season
have been 2009 H1N1 influenza A viruses. However, seasonal influenza
viruses also may cause illness in the upcoming months--getting one type
of influenza does not prevent you from getting another type later in
the season. Because of the current H1N1 pandemic, several additional
systems have been put in place and existing systems modified to more
closely monitor aspects of 2009 H1N1 influenza. These include the
following:
Enhancing Hospitalization Surveillance: CDC has greatly increased
the capacity to collect detailed information on patients hospitalized
with influenza. Using the 198 hospitals in the Emerging Infections
Program (EIP) network and 6 additional sites with 76 hospitals, CDC
monitors a population of 25.6 million to estimate hospitalization rates
by age group and monitor the clinical course among persons with severe
disease requiring hospitalization.
Expanding Testing Capability: Within 2.5 weeks of first detecting
the 2009 H1N1 virus, CDC had fully characterized the new virus,
disseminated information to researchers and public health officials,
and developed and begun shipping to States a new test to detect cases
of 2009 H1N1 infection. CDC continues to support all States and
territories with test reagents, equipment, and funding to maintain
laboratory staff and ship specimens for testing. In addition, CDC
serves as the primary support for public health laboratories conducting
H1N1 tests around the globe and has provided test reagents to 406
laboratories in 154 countries. It is vital that accurate testing
continue in the United States and abroad to monitor any mutations in
the virus that may indicate increases in infection severity, resistance
to antiviral drugs, or a decrease in the match between the vaccine
strain and the circulating strain.
Health Care System Readiness: HHS is also using multiple systems to
track the impact the 2009 H1N1 influenza outbreak has on our health
care system. HHS and CDC are in constant communication with State
health officials and hospital administrators to monitor stress on the
health care system and to prepare for the possibility that Federal
medical assets will be necessary to supplement State and local surge
capabilities. To date, State and local officials and health care
facilities have been able to accommodate the increased patient loads
due to 2009 H1N1, but HHS is monitoring this closely and is prepared to
respond quickly if the situation warrants.
Implementing a Flu-related School Dismissal Monitoring System: The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S.
Department of Education (ED), in collaboration with State and local
health and education agencies and national non-governmental
organizations, have implemented a flu-related school dismissal
monitoring system for the 2009-2010 school year. This monitoring system
generates a verified, near-real-time, national summary report daily on
the number of school dismissals by State across the 130,000 public and
private schools in the United States, and the number of students and
teachers impacted. The system was activated August 3, 2009. This has
helped us to calibrate our messages and guidance and may have
contributed to the smaller number of school closings seen in the fall
relative to those seen in the spring.
PROVIDING SCIENCE-BASED GUIDANCE
A second major area of effort in support of individuals and
institutions is to provide science-based guidance that allows them to
take appropriate and effective action. Slowing the spread and reducing
the impact of 2009 H1N1 and seasonal flu is a shared responsibility. We
can all take action to reduce the impact flu will have on our
communities, schools, businesses, other community organizations, and
homes this fall, winter, and spring.
There are many ways to prevent respiratory infections and CDC
provides specific recommendations targeted to a wide variety of groups,
including the general public, people with certain underlying health
conditions, infants, children, parents, pregnant women, and seniors.
CDC also has provided guidance to workers and in relation to work
settings, such as health care workers, first responders, and those in
the swine industry, as well as to laboratories, homeless shelters,
correctional and detention centers, hemodialysis centers, schools,
child care settings, colleges and universities, small businesses, and
Federal agencies.
With the holidays coming up, reducing the spread of 2009 H1N1
influenza among travelers will be an important consideration.
CDC quarantine station staff respond to reports of illness,
including influenza-like illness when reported, in international
travelers arriving at U.S. ports of entry. Interim guidance documents
for response to travelers with influenza-like illness, for airline
crew, cruise ship personnel and Department of Homeland Security port
and field staff have been developed and posted online. As new
information about this 2009 H1N1 influenza virus becomes available, CDC
will evaluate its guidance and, as appropriate, update it using the
best available science and ensure that these changes are communicated
to the public, partners, and other stakeholders.
In preparation for the upcoming months when we expect many families
and individuals to gather for the holidays, we are preparing to launch
a national communications campaign to encourage domestic and
international travelers to take steps to prevent the spread of flu.
Plans are to display public advertisements with flu prevention messages
in ports of entry and various other advertising locations, such as
newspapers and online advertisements, both before and during the
upcoming holiday travel season.
SUPPORTING SHARED RESPONSIBILITY AND ACTION THROUGH
ENHANCED COMMUNICATION
A third major area of effort is to support shared responsibility
and action through enhanced communication to individuals. Our
recommendations and action plans are based on the best available
scientific information. CDC is working to ensure that Americans are
informed about this pandemic and consistently updated with information
in clear language. The 2009 H1N1 pandemic is a dynamic situation, and
it is essential that the American people are fully engaged and able to
be part of the mitigation strategy and overall response. CDC will
continue to conduct regular media briefings, available at flu.gov, to
get critical information about influenza to the American people.
Some ways to combat the spread of respiratory infections include
staying home when you are sick and keeping sick children at home.
Covering your cough and sneeze and washing your hands frequently are
also effective ways to reduce the spread of infection. Taking personal
responsibility for one's health will help reduce the spread of 2009
H1N1 influenza and other respiratory illnesses.
CDC is communicating with the public about ways to reduce the
spread of flu in more interactive formats such as blog posts on the
Focus on Flu WebMD blog, radio public service announcements, and
podcasts.
Through the CDC INFO Line, we serve the public, clinicians, State
and local health departments and other Federal partners 24 hours/day, 7
days/week, in English and Spanish both for phone and e-mail inquiries.
As of midnight November 4, CDC-INFO had responded to 98,377 phone calls
and 38,628 e-mails from the general public, and 14,782 inquiries from
clinicians, for a total of 151,700 inquiries since the onset of the
H1N1 response in April.
Our information is updated around the clock so we are well-
positioned to respond to the needs and concerns of our inquirers. Our
customer service representatives get first-hand feedback from the
public on a daily basis. In addition to the H1N1 response, we continue
to provide this service for all other CDC programs.
PREVENTION THROUGH VACCINATION
A fourth major area of effort is prevention through vaccination.
Vaccination is our most effective tool to reduce the impact of
influenza. Despite rapid progress during the initial stages of the
vaccine production process, the speed of manufacturing has not been as
rapid as initially estimated. CDC characterized the virus, identified a
candidate vaccine strain, and our HHS partners expedited manufacturing,
initiated clinical trials, and licensed four 2009 H1N1 influenza
vaccines all within 5 months. The speed of this vaccine development was
made possible due to investments made in vaccine advanced research and
development and vaccine manufacturing infrastructure building through
the office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response
(ASPR), Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA)
over the past 4 years, and in collaboration with CDC, the National
Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The rapid responses of HHS agencies, in terms of surveillance, viral
characterization, pre-clinical and clinical testing, and assay
development, were greatly aided by pandemic preparedness efforts for
influenza pandemics set in motion by the H5N1 virus re-emergence in
2003, and the resources Congress provided for those efforts.
Pandemic planning had anticipated vaccine becoming available 6-9
months after emergence of a new influenza. 2009 H1N1 vaccination began
in early October--5 months after the emergence of 2009 H1N1 influenza.
Critical support from Congress resulted in $1.44 billion for States and
hospitals to support planning, preparation, and implementation efforts.
States and cities began placing orders for the 2009 H1N1 vaccine on
September 30. The first vaccination with 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine
outside of clinical trials was given October 5. Tens of millions of
doses have become available for ordering, and millions more become
available each week. Although significant delays in vaccine production
by manufacturers have complicated the early immunization efforts,
vaccine will become increasingly available over the weeks ahead, and
will become more visible through delivery in a variety of settings,
such as vaccination clinics organized by local health departments,
healthcare provider offices, schools, pharmacies, and workplaces.
CDC continues to offer technical assistance to States and other
public health partners as we work together to ensure the H1N1
vaccination program is as effective as possible. Since September 30th,
although the number of H1N1 vaccine doses produced, distributed, and
administered has grown less quickly than projected, States have begun
executing their plans to provide vaccine to targeted priority
populations. Although we had hoped to have more vaccine distributed by
this point, we are working hard to get vaccine out to the public just
as soon as we receive it.
H1N1 vaccines are manufactured by the same companies employing the
same methods used for the yearly production of seasonal flu vaccines.
H1N1 vaccine is distributed to providers and State health departments
similarly to the way federally purchased vaccines are distributed in
the Vaccines for Children program. Two types of 2009 H1N1 vaccine are
now available: injectable vaccine made from inactivated virus, and
nasal vaccine made from live, attenuated (weakened) virus.
CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has
recommended that 2009 H1N1 vaccines be directed to target populations
at greatest risk of illness and severe disease caused by this virus. On
July 29, 2009, ACIP recommended targeting the first available doses of
H1N1 vaccine to five high-risk groups comprised of approximately 159
million people; CDC accepted these recommendations. These groups are:
pregnant women; people who live with or care for children younger than
6 months of age; health care and emergency services personnel; persons
between the ages of 6 months through 24 years of age; and people from
ages 25 through 64 years who are at higher risk for severe disease
because of chronic health disorders like asthma, diabetes, or
compromised immune systems. These recommendations provide a framework
from which States can tailor vaccination to local needs.
Ensuring a vaccine that is safe as well as effective is a top
priority. CDC expects that the 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine will have a
similar safety profile to seasonal influenza vaccine, which
historically has an excellent safety track record. So far the reports
of adverse events among H1N1 vaccination are similar to those we see
with seasonal flu vaccine and not unexpected, but we will remain alert
for the possibility of rare, severe adverse events that could be linked
to vaccination. CDC and FDA have been working to enhance surveillance
systems to rapidly detect any unexpected adverse events among
vaccinated persons and to adjust the vaccination program to minimize
these risks. Two primary systems used to monitor vaccine safety are the
Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS), jointly operated
between CDC and FDA, and the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) Project, a
collaborative project with eight managed care organizations covering
more than nine million members. These systems are designed to determine
whether adverse events are occurring among vaccinated persons at a
greater rate than among unvaccinated persons. CDC has worked with
partners to strengthen these vaccine safety tracking systems and we
continue to develop new ways to monitor vaccine safety, as announced
earlier this week by the Federal Immunization Safety Task Force in HHS.
In addition, based on the recommendation of the National Vaccine
Advisory Committee (NVAC), HHS established the H1N1 Vaccine Safety Risk
Assessment Working Group to review 2009 H1N1 vaccine safety data as it
accumulates. This working group of outside experts will conduct
regular, rapid reviews of available data from the Federal safety
monitoring systems and present them to NVAC and Federal leadership for
appropriate policy action and follow-up.
More than 36,000 people die each year from complications associated
with seasonal flu. CDC continues to recommend vaccination against
seasonal influenza viruses, especially for all people 50 years of age
and over and all adults with certain chronic medical conditions, as
well as infants and children. As of the fourth week in October, 89
million doses of seasonal vaccine had been distributed. It appears that
interest in seasonal flu vaccine has been unprecedented this year.
Manufacturers estimate that a total of 114 million doses will be
brought to the U.S. market.
REDUCING THE BURDEN OF ILLNESS AND DEATH THROUGH ANTIVIRAL DISTRIBUTION
AND USE
In the spring, anticipating commercial market constraints, HHS
deployed 11 million courses of antiviral drugs from the Strategic
National Stockpile (SNS) to ensure the Nation was positioned to quickly
employ these drugs to combat 2009 H1N1 and its spread. In early
October, HHS shipped an additional 300,000 bottles of the oral
suspension formulation of the antiviral oseltamivir to States in order
to mitigate a predicted near-term national shortage indicated by
commercial supply data. In addition, the Secretary authorized the
release of the remaining 234,000 bottles of pediatric Tamiflu on
October 29. We will continue to conduct outreach to pharmacists and
providers related to pediatric dosing and compounding practices to help
assure supplies are able to meet pediatric demand for antiviral
treatment. Finally, CDC and FDA have also worked together to address
potential options for treatment of seriously ill hospitalized patients
with influenza, including situations in which physicians may wish to
use investigational formulations of antiviral drugs for intravenous
therapy. The FDA issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) on October
23, 2009, for the investigational antiviral drug peramivir intravenous
(IV) to be used for certain hospitalized adult and pediatric patients
with confirmed or suspected 2009 H1N1 influenza infection. Physician
requests for peramivir to be used under the EUA are managed through a
CDC web portal.
CLOSING REMARKS
CDC is working hard to limit the impact of this pandemic, and we
are committed to keeping the public and the Congress fully informed
about both the situation and our response. We are collaborating with
our Federal partners as well as with other organizations that have
unique expertise to help CDC provide guidance to multiple sectors of
our economy and society. There have been enormous efforts in the United
States and abroad to prepare for this kind of challenge.
Our Nation's current preparedness is a direct result of the
investments and support of Congress over recent years, effective
planning and action by Federal agencies, and the hard work of State and
local officials across the country. We look forward to working closely
with Congress as we address the situation as it continues to evolve in
the weeks and months ahead.
Again, Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to participate
in this conversation with you and your colleagues. I look forward to
answering your questions.
Senator Dodd. Well, thank you very much, Doctor.
Let me jump right in on some of the questions. Senator Enzi
raised some of them in his opening comments, and they're a lot
of questions we're getting, as well, on a regular basis. I know
you probably get them all the time, as well.
I understood, by the way, that there are basically five
companies that are producing the vaccine, and all but one of
them are located outside of the United States. Is that correct?
Dr. Schuchat. Yes, that is right.
Senator Dodd. Well, how did that happen?
Dr. Schuchat. Well, I think one good feature is that we
have contracts with five companies, and that was intended to
reduce our risk that one company or another would have a
problem. Our problem, of course, is this slow-growing virus has
been a problem for four of the companies.
We are in better shape than we were a few years ago. At
2004, we only had one company producing vaccine for the United
States, and now we have five companies with license to produce
influenza vaccine for seasonal use. Most of those companies, as
you say, produce overseas. There have been investments in
encouraging manufacturing here in the United States and
expanding that capacity, but this is not an issue that changes
overnight.
Senator Dodd. Now, one of the issues I've heard raised is
that, in some of these countries, the political community have
passed legislation prohibiting the exportation of the vaccines
outside until all of their needs are being met domestically. Is
that true?
Dr. Schuchat. There are contracts in place in different
countries, and some of them do have those policies. The global
capacity to produce influenza vaccine is not large. It's much
larger than it was 5 years ago, but it's not sufficient for the
entire world's population. We are vulnerable. We were lucky
that the HHS had gotten contracts in place with these five
companies and that our contracts, for the most part, are being
honored.
Senator Dodd. What are the lessons we've learned about--I
appreciate the fact that you say this is--and by the way, let
me commend you and others and the people who work at CDC. You
do a remarkable job. I should have begun my comments by
thanking you and others for the tremendous efforts that are
made. I don't want these questions to be seen as just the
critical questions, but the questions we're getting----
Dr. Schuchat. Sure.
Senator Dodd [continuing]. All the time. What have we
learned in this phase of it? I appreciate that we're better off
today than we were 4 or 5 years ago, but we're constantly
learning. What have we learned here, given the anticipation,
last summer, of having--I forget the exact numbers we were
anticipated to have of vaccines--obviously came way short of
that number. Now we're trying to catch up with it. What have we
learned as a result of that, that we would now close that kind
of a gap?
Dr. Schuchat. Right. I think that we've learned some things
about technology. Of course, you can't change this overnight,
there are long-term investments needed to strengthen our
technology for vaccine production, particularly for influenza.
I think we've also learned something about managing
expectations. The companies have produced a lot of vaccine in a
record time, but I think the expectations that were set have
been difficult to meet. We tried to let people know that bumps
could happen, that manufacturing of influenza vaccine is always
unpredictable. Yet, I think we didn't get that message out
sufficiently.
Senator Dodd. So the expectation we set earlier on was
unrealistic.
Dr. Schuchat. Well, I think that we tried to qualify it,
but perhaps we didn't achieve--it wasn't as well absorbed as we
would have liked.
Senator Dodd. Talk to me a bit about--I had a meeting
yesterday--I don't know if you were in the room when I
mentioned, yesterday--I had a roundtable conversation with my
department of health in the State of Connecticut and others and
the chief epidemiologist in the State. He pointed out to me,
we're going to face a third wave, as he described it--Dr. Carta
did--of H1N1 probably in late December, January, February--and
that at the height, I guess it would be the flu season, as
well. Share with us what we can anticipate.
Dr. Schuchat. It's impossible to predict exactly what
course we'll see. We do look to history. In 1957 there was a
pandemic that did occur early in the fall, like what we're
seeing right now, and things got better in December, and then,
after the first of the year, there was a second wave of
increase in deaths around the country. We're very mindful that
that has happened in the past.
We, of course, had disease in the spring, are seeing much
more disease now in the fall, just as we had expected, and hope
that our vaccination effort will blunt the impact that this
virus is having. We like to say that the influenza season
typically lasts until May, and so, I think we need to be on
alert through that period.
Senator Dodd. Again, there have been these reports,
obviously, of detainees in Guantanamo receiving the vaccines.
There were reports last week that Wall Street, for instance,
got a dose of vaccine. Now, again, those headlines alone can
provoke their own almost predictable responses. Tell me what
the thinking was in both those cases.
Dr. Schuchat. Yes. I think that communication is vital, and
misinformation is rampant in any kind of 2009 health emergency.
My understanding is that the Department of Defense has vaccine
for Active Duty personnel and that the information about the
detainees was not correct.
The issue with Wall Street--let me explain, again, that CDC
distributes vaccine to places that the State or city health
departments designate. The States and cities are in much better
shape than CDC in Atlanta, or HHS in Washington, to know how
best to reach priority populations in their midst. They are
primarily directing this vaccine to hospitals, to private
providers, to local health departments, to schools, and to some
employee-based clinics.
Many adults are vaccinated with seasonal flu in the
workplace. It's a very convenient place to be vaccinated. I
believe this is what was going on with the New York City area.
Apparently their initial distributions were to hospitals,
private providers, schools, and health departments, and it was
only in their second tier that they started to ship vaccine to
employers.
Senator Dodd. Again, we're talking about--our priority
populations here are pregnant women, children, and the elderly.
Dr. Schuchat. No, oh, I'm sorry.
Senator Dodd. No, I'm sorry, go ahead, you correct me.
Dr. Schuchat. For seasonal flu that's absolutely right. For
the H1N1 virus, it is disproportionately affecting younger
people. The five priority groups that our advisory committee
recommended be vaccinated early in the response were pregnant
women, children and young adults from 6 months to 24 years of
age, adults that are working age who have chronic health
conditions--diabetes, asthma, cancer and so forth--adults 25 to
64 with those conditions--and parents of newborns under 6
months, as well as healthcare workers or emergency medical
service personnel. Many adults--either because they're parents
of a newborn, because they have a common disease, like diabetes
or asthma, or those adults in the healthcare or emergency
medical service personnel, and then adults who are pregnant,
who are in the workforce--could easily be reached through
employer clinics. We really look to the cities and States, who
are directing the implementation of vaccine, to know how best
to get vaccine into the path of priority populations. We want
it to be convenient, accessible, and available, and we all
really do want pregnant women and other adults with risk
conditions, to be vaccinated promptly.
Senator Dodd. Last two questions I'll have for you here
is--tell me about the coordination between CDC, HHS, Department
of Labor. How is that working?
Dr. Schuchat. It has been a real privilege to be part of
the Federal team that's responding to H1N1 since the early days
in April. I would say that there's tremendous coordination
within HHS--daily phone calls, actually multiple times a day.
We have liaisons at different parts of HHS. Extreme close
cooperation with the Department of Labor, Department of
Education, Commerce, and, of course, the Department of Homeland
Security.
Pandemics do not know borders, and they don't respect
sectors. Pandemics do not restrict themselves to the health
sector. We have really looked to Labor to help with the
flexible leave policy, to Education to help with updated school
guidance, as well as a surveillance system that is giving us
vital information.
Senator Dodd. And last, on the issue--what recommendations
does CDC make to employers to help them limit the spread of
H1N1? What specific guidelines do childcare facilities and
schools use to prevent the spread? And when it comes to H1N1
virus, what are the biggest challenges you hear from employers
and schools, State and local public officials?
Dr. Schuchat. Our guidance to schools, childcare centers,
and business all stress the importance of staying home when
you're sick, or keeping your child home if they are sick. We
have updated the guidance, based on the spring, learning from
the course of this virus, to suggest staying home for 24 hours
after your fever is gone without taking antifever medicines,
and that you could return to school or the workplace at that
point. We've stressed to businesses the importance of having
flexible leave policies so it's easy for your employees to do
the right thing.
The Secretaries of Labor and Health and Human Services sent
letters out to business. I've spoken with the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce. We've really tried to get that message out, to make
it easy for people to do the right thing.
Senator Dodd. What's the period of time we're talking
about--is it 2 days, 3 days? Roughly. I realize this is a tough
question. Roughly, what do you anticipate?
Senator Dodd. Right. For most people, the recommendation to
stay home 24 hours after the fever is gone would mean 3 to 5
days. Of course, if you get sick on a Friday, you wouldn't miss
so much.
Senator Dodd. Right.
Dr. Schuchat. In the spring our guidance was to stay home
for 7 days, and that was very disruptive to schools, and also
disruptive to the workplace.
Senator Dodd. Of course you're--then, with the
inconsistency, in a way, obviously, of recommending these
policies, and yet we don't really have an overall strategy. We
kind of lurch from pandemic to pandemic on these matters.
That'll be another question.
Senator Enzi.
Senator Enzi. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll just do a few
followup questions on what you asked.
The first one being on this apparent confusion over the
Department of Defense. Shouldn't the DOD's Guantanamo vaccine
order be canceled and re-directed to the CDC, so that you can
be sure that every child and pregnant woman that would have the
vaccine that wants it can have it? Shouldn't that be the first
priority?
Dr. Schuchat. The Department of Defense purchase of H1N1
vaccine is directed for Active Duty personnel and for the
dependents and others affiliated with the DOD. That would be
carried out through the CDC central distribution effort, so, I
think that the DOD was really trying to make sure that Active
Duty personnel could be vaccinated promptly. Really, force
readiness is a vital factor for them.
Senator Enzi. I think anybody that's infected with it
considers it a very vital factor.
Now, the Administration announced ambitious goals for the
vaccine production, claiming that the United States would have
access of 80 to 120 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine by mid-
October. We're now in November, and we only have 36 million
vaccines. What went wrong at CDC or HHS? What caused such a
drastic overestimation?
It's my understanding that the manufacturers did not report
similar targets. Is that true?
Dr. Schuchat. The estimates for vaccine projections for
this fall were given by manufacturers to Health and Human
Services. We shared those estimates with the State and local
health departments, who were keenly needing information in
order to be able to plan the school clinics and the other mass
clinics. As information changed, we updated the information.
Every time we've talked about influenza vaccine production,
really from June onwards, we've talked about how unpredictable
it can be. Many may remember 2004 and 2005, when, October 5th,
we learned that half of the U.S. vaccine supply was lost
because of manufacturer challenges. I think that while we have
tried to qualify projections, it's been difficult to get that
message out. It is extremely frustrating and disappointing to
everyone, I think, that we have had this delayed start.
That said, we have twice as much vaccine right now as we
had about 2 weeks ago, and the pace is really picking up. We
are seeing the ability, more and more every day, to meet the
incredible demand that we have for vaccine.
Senator Enzi. Of course, I'm hearing from the people that
are standing in line for clinics, and then getting up to the
front of the line and finding out that there isn't enough
vaccine there to take care of them and their children, some
waiting in line for more than 1 or 2 hours.
Dr. Schuchat. Absolutely. It's difficult to see that, and
especially pregnant women, people with their children, children
with these disabilities. It's very hard. The good news is, a
poll recently showed that 9 out of 10 people who looked for
vaccine and were not able to get it plan to look again, that
they understand that the supply is limited right now, but do
hear that more is coming. I wish it were much easier, more
convenient for everyone who wants to be vaccinated to be
vaccinated. I think the next several weeks will be a delicate
effort to really try to reach these priority groups, and after
that, the others in need.
Senator Enzi. I'm also hearing from some people who, at
their clinic, have been asked if they wanted the vaccine. They
said, ``Well, I thought that was in short supply, and I'm not
in that eligible group.'' And their answer from the clinic was,
``We don't have enough people in that eligible group, but we
have vaccines.''
Is there anything being done to cause a redistribution
there? Those people that realize they shouldn't have it are
still getting it, and somebody else is not getting it.
Dr. Schuchat. You raise a really important issue about the
challenges of supply and demand at that very local level. Our
advisory committee on immunization practices thought carefully
about how to prioritize vaccine when it was in short supply--
again, learning from the 2004-2005 experience. At that point, a
very narrow set of priorities were given, and people did step
aside, as you say, and we ended up having to throw out vaccine.
Our advisory committee came up with a pretty broad priority
population--it's about half of the U.S. population--but said,
at any level--at local, at the provider level, at the county
level--the decisions about when to expand beyond the priority
groups should be made, rather than at the national level,
really locally, because the local attitudes about vaccine,
whether people are concerned about the disease or are really
seeking the vaccine, are different, area to area. We may see
differences, week to week, and our advisory committee wanted
there to be a very low threshold for providers to be able to
continue to offer vaccine to others, especially as it's
continuing to be produced each day.
Senator Enzi. You keep referring back to that 2004-2005
incident. I can remember when Senator Byrd and Senator Dodd and
Senator Kennedy and I were in a room trying to work out some of
the problems of this.
Can you point to any internal barriers at the Department of
Health and Human Services that have contributed to the vaccine
shortage? Or are there positions that haven't been filled that
would exacerbate the vaccine shortage? Are there some things we
need to do?
Dr. Schuchat. You know, I think the key barrier to our
vaccine immunization--or, to our immunization effort--is really
the fragility of the public health infrastructure, that even
with the doses that are coming out, we are dependent on the
local and State public health system to direct these doses to
providers, to local clinics, to hospitals. You know, there have
been about 15,000 jobs lost in that sector over the last 2
years. The emergency funds for pandemic have helped a lot, but
the core is really eroded.
Senator Enzi. Are there any positions, though, in the
Federal Government, that we haven't filled yet, that need to
be, to work on this?
Dr. Schuchat. I'm not aware of there being, but we could
get back to you on that.
[The information referred to may be found in Additional
Material.]
Senator Enzi. Thank you.
Senator Dodd. Thanks.
I am receiving a note, by the mayor's office in New York,
that Goldman Sachs requested 5,400 H1N1 doses, but received
200, which was consistent with the average number of employees
who may be pregnant. That's the note I'm reading.
The other problem they manage--that, for instance, they
report an average of 23 percent of parental consent rate for
vaccines in school-age children in New York City, and they're
attributing that to the fact that New York City has a
relatively low rate of H1N1. Therefore, the parents may be less
reluctant to be asking for it. Parental consent is critical,
obviously, for those things. That's a pretty low number, that
23 percent.
Dr. Schuchat. Yes. Parental consent is a vital part of
successful school-located immunization. We have success stories
around the country, and we have some areas that have seen more
challenges. In some areas, this is something that parents are
used to. You know, they've been offering seasonal flu vaccine
in the schools, and the consents are higher--more in the 30-,
40-, or 50-percent range. We got fantastic results from Maine
recently about very high acceptance rates. The logistics of
school-located clinics are pretty tricky, and we really applaud
the hard work that the States and cities have been doing to
carry them out.
Senator Dodd. Senator Murray.
Senator Brownback. Were children vaccinated without
parental consent?
Dr. Schuchat. I believe there may have been one or two
situations like that, but I don't have the details. There's a
consent form that's provided. In fact, CDC developed draft
consent forms this summer, so States could be ready. And we
really wanted, working with the Department of Education, to
raise that awareness on the part of the schools and the parents
about when the vaccine gets there, there won't be that much
time to get all the ducks in a row, so let's work on everything
we can up front. You know, this is an enormous undertaking, and
there will be aberrations.
Senator Brownback. And there were.
Senator Dodd. Senator Murray.
Senator Murray. Thank you very much.
Dr. Schuchat, first of all, thank you so much. I know
everybody's working really hard. Expectations were high. We
have all watched, with frustration, long lines at home, in many
places where parents with young kids, and pregnant women, have
stood in line and found out, at the end of the day, there
wasn't enough for them. I heard your explanation, that
manufacturing didn't happen as soon as possible, some
distribution.
A two-part question. First of all, when will we see those
lines gone, so that people will be able to get access to the
vaccination, so we can give them that assurance? Second, what
are the lessons learned in distribution, so we know, next time,
for December-January, or for several years from now?
Dr. Schuchat. Yes, thank you, those are both really
important issues. You know, I think that more and more doses
are getting out to providers, and the health departments are
also directing vaccine for these mass clinics and school
clinics. I think the pressure will be decreasing. Things could
change very quickly if demand changes. Right now there's very
high demand for vaccine in most, but not all, communities.
I can't tell you an exact day when things will be better in
any one community. I can say that the supply is much more
reliably increasing now, and that demand could change quickly.
It's really when you reach that sweet spot of supply and
demand.
I can't give you a number of doses by which everything will
be fine. But, certainly when there's more doses out there in
the school-located clinics and the doctors' offices, the
numbers who need to attend the mass clinics will be reduced.
The second question was about lessons learned, and I think
a critical lesson is about communication. We have really been
trying to support the State and local health departments and
give them information in order to be able to do their planning
and their outreach. As the supply changed, their planning had
to really change, and they had to recommunicate information. I
think the American public has been great about this, but I
think if they understood, in any one locality or State, how
vaccine is being distributed, there would be a lot easier time.
Many States and cities are doing that, but to say we're
initially shipping to hospitals, then we're starting these
school programs----
Senator Murray. But that's a State decision as to whether
it goes to hospitals or schools.
Dr. Schuchat. Yes, that's right. What CDC does is set
national guidance about priority populations. States and cities
are in the best position to know their community, to know their
provider capacity, to know their health system, to know the
partners--the church and faith-based communities, to know, How
can we reach these people who need to be vaccinated most
effectively?
We are letting the State and local health departments
direct the vaccine. I think there are some places where the
State-to-local health department communication could be better,
but, fundamentally, I think public health at the local and
State level have been doing a phenomenal job. Fundamentally the
problem has been less vaccine than we all expected.
Senator Murray. Right.
Mr. Harris, I wanted to ask you--as I said in my opening
remarks, I am very concerned that CDC has issued these
guidelines, they want people to stay home, it's absolutely the
right thing to do, to stop the spread of this and to make sure
that we're doing the right thing. We're doing this right at a
time when our economy is really struggling, and many workers
today can't take sick leave, or they lose income.
Obviously we're looking at legislation today to impact that
for paid sick leave. I think that that is the right thing to
do. Can you tell us today what some of the best practices
you're giving to employers today so that they can make sure
their workforce remains healthy?
Mr. Harris. We can, and we share the concern that you just
expressed, Senator. We've been working very closely with Dr.
Schuchat and our friends at HHS, as well as the Commerce
Department and the Department of Homeland Security, to provide
that kind of guidance to employers and other institutions that
are large gathering places.
The philosophy of community mitigation is to avoid illness,
to the extent possible, using social distancing and other
strategies. What we've encouraged employers to do--the most
important principle, is that if someone is sick, they shouldn't
come to work; if they arrive at work sick, they should be sent
home. The goal should be for sick people to stay away from
healthy people so that we don't spread the illness.
For a lot of workers, as you said, that's a difficult thing
to do, because they give up a day's pay, they risk their job in
some cases. There's no protection against discipline for a
large percentage of workers. We may well have reached the stage
where--or we believe we have reached the stage where we need
legislation that makes it easier for employers to--in this
tightly competitive environment--to make that choice, to make
that decision for workers to stay home; for workers to make
that decision for themselves to stay home.
Senator Enzi mentioned that in a lot of businesses you have
employers who would like to have workers stay home, and make
informal arrangements. In the tough competitive environment
we're experiencing right now, it's hard for employers to make
that kind of an individual arrangement. They need the added
help. If we make all competitors comply with a basic labor
standard, that kind of decision--that social distancing,
staying home if you're sick--becomes easier.
Senator Murray. Thank you very much, I appreciate it.
Thank you both.
Senator Casey. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much.
Doctor, I want to thank you for your work, and your
commitment to public service, especially under difficult
circumstances.
Deputy Secretary Harris, great to have you here.
Doctor, first of all--and this is by way of repetition, but
that's important around here. I know you've testified to this,
one way or the other. I just want to be clear, in terms of some
of the numbers here, to the extent that you can answer this
question.
The gap, or the disconnect, between the demand or the need
for treatment, as opposed to what is in the pipeline for the
vaccines--can you give me a general sense of those numbers?
Dr. Schuchat. Yes. Today, 41.1 million doses of H1N1
vaccine are available for the States to order. It's about twice
what we had 2 weeks ago.
We don't have a precise number of doses that we think will
be enough. We don't know the long-term demand. We have some
baselines or background to use. With seasonal influenza, about
one out of three people for whom it's recommended actually gets
the vaccine. We do a bit better with seniors; about 70 percent
of seniors get the vaccine. In the younger age groups, we don't
do very well. If one out of three people in this recommended
group of 159 million actually sought the vaccine, we'd be
pretty close to where we needed to be right now. We know,
though, that demand is higher than that right now.
What I have been saying is that exactly where demand will
be in the weeks ahead is difficult to predict. We're grateful
that 9 out of 10 people who sought vaccine and couldn't find it
plan to look again. They may get frustrated, and we hope they
don't. We're hopeful that we can address the concerns that some
people have about the safety of the vaccine, or about the
threat of the virus, so that they take seriously the benefits
the vaccine can offer when it's available to them.
We don't know exactly what week or day in any particular
area we will have that perfect mix of supply and demand. This
actually happens every year with seasonal flu vaccine. We have
more than we want, or not enough. People think the pharmacy's
got it before the doctors' offices. It's very challenging. It's
just something that--seasonal flu vaccine is pretty much a
private-sector enterprise. This H1N1 program, of course, is
publicly directed, and we're really stressing the importance of
communication to let people know what to expect and how to
protect themselves.
Senator Casey. With regard to H1N1, you're saying 41.1
million doses are available.
Dr. Schuchat. As of today.
Senator Casey. OK. And when you say ``available,'' what
does that mean?
Dr. Schuchat. That's right. ``Available'' means that it's
come from the manufacturers to our central distributor. It's
been checked in, and it wasn't damaged. It didn't need to be
quarantined or set aside. It is ready for the States to order.
The States have a pro-rata share of the vaccine, based on their
population, and every day the States or the big city health
departments are putting in orders for vaccine to be shipped to
the sites that they designate.
We have the capacity to ship to up to 150,000 sites. We're
not shipping to that many yet. As supply increases, we can ship
to many places directly. The 41.1 million is the doses that,
this morning, the States were offered--the cumulative total
that they were able to order from.
Senator Dodd. That is exactly the question--it is
cumulative? That's the number available now?
Dr. Schuchat. This is the total that have become available
since the program began on September 30.
Senator Dodd. What do you have available now?
Dr. Schuchat. I would have to get that back to you.
[The information referred to may be found in Additional
Material.]
Dr. Schuchat. Basically, a key point is that the States are
ordering every day, and most of the States are ordering the
vast majority of what's allocated to them, so there's not a lot
sitting around. This is in and out.
We've really, over the past couple weeks, sped things up.
You know, once we understood it was a trickle that we were
getting, we said, ``Well, we'd better speed up every drop of
vaccine that we get, focusing on overnight shipment.'' To 90
percent of the sites, or a guarantee that it we will reach the
provider site within 24 hours for 90 percent of deliveries,
focusing on shipping the needles and syringes at the same time
as the vaccine doses. Initially we were going to ship the
needles the day before, so you'd be sure you got them. We've
really sped up everything we can speed up, and have been
offering outreach to States that are having trouble keeping up
with their orders.
Senator Dodd. No, I understand. No, I apologize for
interrupting, I just wanted that cumulative----
Senator Casey. No, that's OK. You're the Chairman.
[Laughter.]
With regard to H1N1, what have you learned--or what have we
learned--not just you, but all of us--and, I guess, what have
you learned--just on this topic: distribution or delivery of
the vaccines--what have we learned, and what are the biggest
challenges in the next couple of weeks and months on this? Just
on the distribution challenge.
Dr. Schuchat. We have been learning how best to manage the
central distribution and support of the State and local health
departments. Some of our systems were ready, because we had
transitioned to a central distributor system for our childhood
vaccination program, the Vaccine for Children Program. Eighty
million doses of routine vaccines goes in and out of this
system every year.
This is a large-scale, short-term influenza program on top
of that, and some of our systems weren't ready. We are in the
process of upgrading the information system by which providers
order vaccine. In the future, we hope that providers can just
order right in their own offices, without having to go through
the State and local health departments, but that system wasn't
yet ready.
The weeks ahead, the second thing we've learned is how
fragile the State and local public health system is. I can't
tell you how many times in our outreach to our counterparts we
got messages back--automatic messages--``It's Friday, we're
furloughed.'' Or, ``No one is here today.'' You know, really a
hard time for public health to mount this kind of response.
They've been really rising to the occasion in a tremendous way.
In the weeks ahead, anything can happen. This can be
unpredictable, although many of the things that have happened,
we had contingency plans for. I think, in the weeks ahead,
we're going to reach a point where, instead of not having
enough vaccine, we have vaccine that's not being used. It's
critically important that we are ready with aggressive
outreach, particularly to the vulnerable populations that may
not be in the mainstream, getting the messages, to make sure
that we're able to protect people who want to be protected, and
that we can address the concerns that they have.
Senator Casey. Well, I think I'm over time. I've got a
couple more, but I'll hold.
Senator Dodd. Thank you, Bob.
Senator Hagan.
Senator Hagan. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
In response to your last statement, when you said, ``In the
weeks ahead, we will probably have an oversupply,'' what is
your strategy to try to be sure that people are educated that
they really do need to come in and get the H1N1 vaccination?
Dr. Schuchat. Yes. We've been working with a comprehensive
communications strategy with public service announcements, with
partners, lots of outreach to local trusted partner groups. The
White House has organized a whole set of outreach to the faith-
based and community-based organizations to help us reach people
who may not trust, certainly, the government in Atlanta or
Washington, but not necessarily even their State or local
government, so that we are able to raise demand where demand is
just a function of lack of information.
There's been this tricky period, right now, where we'd like
to make sure that we have sufficient supply before we raise
demand further, because we don't want people even more
frustrated about the lines and inability to access vaccine.
We've been really holding frequent discussions about when do we
turn on that part of the strategy, rather than it being so
early that it backfires, but not too late to benefit the people
who could take advantage of protection.
Senator Hagan. I wanted to ask a question on individuals
that don't have paid sick leave. It's my understanding that in
many places, schoolbus drivers don't have access to that. I
think that's a shocking fact. I know that the CDC strongly
recommends that anyone who is ill should stay at home. Have
there been any particular efforts made to ensure compliance
among those professions that are most likely to cause the
spread of disease, such as teachers, bus drivers, healthcare
workers?
Mr. Harris. We've been engaged, working with CDC and
working with HHS and the Commerce Department. We're doing
outreach into the business community, through the Chamber of
Commerce and other organizations; not targeted to particular
occupations, but targeted to particular industries. You
highlight a very important fact, and that is that a lot of
workers, particularly low-wage workers in service-based
industries, who have a tremendous amount of customer contact,
are among the least likely workers to have paid leave, to be
able to take time off from work. Exactly the opposite of what
you would want. From a public health perspective, you have
workers in contact with people who are coming in to work sick--
food service workers, hotel workers, childcare workers, bus
drivers, and others, the Chairman mentioned cafeteria workers
in schools--exactly the situation that we don't want to have.
One in four low-wage workers has paid leave. And in those
service industries, about 78 percent have no leave. That's the
reason why we're advocating for the Healthy Families Act, to
try and address that problem.
Senator Hagan. I know there's a lot of concern lately
regarding the healthcare professionals who have decided not to
get vaccinated--or to get the vaccine. Is that prevalent? Is
that causing distress and problems within medical offices and
hospitals?
Dr. Schuchat. You know, it's a sad feature of this pandemic
that some vocal healthcare workers have not wanted to be
vaccinated, or have discouraged their patients from being
vaccinated. As a doctor and a public health expert, it's just
vital to me to do no harm, to not spread flu to my patients,
and to protect myself and those around me. I believe that we
will have a greater uptake of influenza vaccine in healthcare
workers, both the seasonal and the H1N1, over the course of
this season and the future ones, because I think people are
beginning to realize that the flu can be serious and that the
influenza vaccines, while not perfect, offer better protection
than risking the disease. I do expect, in the years ahead,
we'll be making more progress with that. It's gotten a lot of
attention this year, and we certainly strongly promote
healthcare worker vaccination. It's been less than half of
healthcare workers, in the past several years of surveys, that
have taken advantage of the vaccine.
Senator Hagan. Thank you.
Senator Dodd. Senator Hagan, thank you very much.
I appreciate you raising the issue of the schoolbus
drivers. Earlier today, I raised the issue, as well. I was told
100 percent of school bus drivers do not have any sick leave
pay. That number, obviously, is a pretty staggering number. I'm
told, unlike other areas, it's just almost universal in that
area.
That question that Senator Hagan has raised is one that--
because, here again, we're talking about this fact situation,
and Senator Enzi pointed out that, we first became aware of
this in March, and obviously we had numbers that predicted a
certain amount of dosages being available this summer. We
didn't reach that. What's quite clear to all of us is that
we're living in a world today where, because of the
interconnectibility, these kinds of conditions are going to
become more common. It's not the rarity any longer, it's the
predictable. To what extent, then--whereas, as we did after 9/
11, began thinking about how we deal with this in a
comprehensive way, as part of a Federal policy, to deal with
these issues--whether it's sick leave, or whatever other
aspects of this, I think it will be very, very important so
that we don't find ourselves, kind of, lurching and having
dramatic hearings and asking questions of why didn't we know
better this time around than the next time? I think all of us,
in the midst of everything else, would love to get some
thoughts and ideas from the CDC, obviously HHS, and others--
private sector, Department of Labor--all of the pieces that
come together, as to how we can frame a structure, an
architecture that would allow us to be able to respond to these
fact situations, when they emerge, in a way with far greater
predictability, so they become, while important events, ones
that we're structurally capable of responding to in a
thoughtful manner. I certainly would welcome that kind of
suggestion, as well.
I just have one question, for you Mr. Harrison--I apologize
that, due to the time, and so forth, I didn't get to ask--I'll
submit some questions. I have several of them for you.
[The information referred to may be found in Additional
Material.]
Senator Dodd. Is it the Administration's view that you
would support the Healthy Families Act? Is that true?
Mr. Harris. Yes.
Senator Dodd. I appreciate that.
We're also working on some emergency legislation to deal
with this kind of a situation, and we don't have it framed yet,
but we'd very much welcome the Administration's participation.
In fact, we welcome anyone's participation in this, to help us
put together something that might help us respond to this
situation.
With 600 school districts closing their doors across the
country because of H1N1--I've had 10 in my State alone. It
isn't just the sick parent or the sick child, it's the healthy
parent and healthy child that find themselves all of a sudden
with no one watching out for them, with working parents. How do
we accommodate that? We've got to try to think about a
structure, here, that can be more acceptable. We look forward
to working with you on that.
Mr. Harris. Thank you, sir.
Senator Dodd. I'll leave the record open for some
additional questions, as well.
I thank our two witnesses, very, very much.
Let me, if I can now, move to our third panel. Let me
introduce our witnesses. Debra Ness is a good friend. I'll
acknowledge, at the outset, is president of the Partnership for
Women and Families.
Ms. Ness, welcome again, to this committee. We appreciate
your taking the time to talk to us today about paid sick days
and Healthy Families Act.
Ms. Ness has been president of the National Partnership for
Women and Families for 5 years, was previously the executive
vice president of the National Partnership for 13 years. She's
worked for over two decades in the areas of social justice,
health and public policy, attended Drew University and Columbia
University School of Social Work. She draws upon years of work
in areas important to women and working families.
We're happy to have you with us.
Desiree Rosado is a constituent of mine and--delighted to
have you here, Desiree. Thank you for coming down--welcome to
the Children's and Family Subcommittee--from Groton, CT, taking
the time to be with us. Ms. Rosado lived in Groton, with her
husband and three children, for 12 years. She works as a
special education assistant in the Groton public schools, very
active in the community, is a member of the MomsRising. She and
her husband led the praise and worship department in their
church.
We thank you very much for joining us, as well.
Elissa O'Brien is active. She's the director of human
resources for Wingate Healthcare, in Massachusetts, which has
4,000 employees. Ms. O'Brien is also an active volunteer for
the Society for Human Resources and Management and is currently
serving a 2-year term as director for the Rhode Island State
Council of the organization.
We thank you, for joining us here, as well, Ms. O'Brien.
We have with us Scott Gottlieb. Dr. Scott Gottlieb is a
fellow of the American Enterprise Institute. Dr. Gottlieb--
welcome to the committee--is a fellow of the American
Enterprise Institute, as well as a practicing physician, has
served in several capacities at the Food and Drug
Administration, as well as a senior policy advisor at the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service--CMS.
And we thank you, for joining us, as well, this morning.
We'll begin in the order that I've introduced you. We'd ask
you to keep your remarks to about 5 minutes, if you could, so
we can get to some questions.
Debra, nice to see you. Thank you for being here.
STATEMENT OF DEBRA NESS, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP FOR
WOMEN AND FAMILIES, WASHINGTON, DC
Ms. Ness. Thank you.
Good morning, Chairman Dodd, Ranking Member Enzi, Senator
Casey. Thank you, for inviting us all here to talk about the
policies that America's workers urgently need during this H1N1
flu emergency.
I'm Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for
Women and Families, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, advocacy group.
I'm here to testify in support of the Healthy Families Act,
ground- breaking legislation that is tremendously important to
working people across the Nation, especially during this
national emergency.
The National Partnership leads a very broad-based coalition
in support of paid sick days. I'm testifying here today on
behalf of the millions of individuals represented by civil
rights, women's, disability, children's, faith-based,
antipoverty, labor, health, and research communities. We all
urge you to quickly pass the Healthy Families Act, the bill now
before Congress that offers the best solution to this problem.
What is the problem? Quite simply, that millions of
hardworking people in this country have no paid sick days.
Almost half of private-sector workers and more than three-
quarters of low-wage workers, most of them women, don't have a
single paid sick day. At a time when the H1N1 virus has
infected millions and is widespread in 48 States, our failure
to provide a minimum standard of paid sick days is exacting a
terrible toll. Over the past few months, as this national
emergency has progressed, experts and public officials from the
CDC to the President of the United States have told us all: Be
responsible, stay home, keep sick children home, to prevent the
spread of the virus. It's excellent advice. Unfortunately, as
the Congresswoman pointed out earlier today, taking that advice
is simply not an option for millions of workers. They want to
do the right thing. No one wants to spread the flu. Frankly,
what's responsible when staying home means risking a paycheck
or a job that your family depends on?
Working people need paid time off to recover from H1N1, to
care for sick family members, to prevent spread of the virus.
This is particularly true for those who do the caregiving. The
highest H1N1 virus attack rate is among children and youth,
many of whom need a parent to care for them when they get sick.
That's why the lack of paid sick days is especially challenging
for working women, who often have primary responsibility for a
child as well as eldercare in their families.
Our failure to provide a minimum standard of paid sick days
also is putting our public health at risk. Only 22 percent--
less than a quarter--of food service and public accommodation
workers have paid sick days. Workers in childcare centers, in
nursing homes, disproportionately lack paid sick days. They are
forced to work when they're sick, and, in so doing, they put
their coworkers, the people they care for, and the public at
risk.
While the need for paid sick days is particularly
compelling during this H1N1 flu emergency, the reality is that
working families struggled without paid sick days prior to this
emergency, and they will continue to do so until Congress acts.
Every year the seasonal flu and other illnesses strike millions
of us, and every year the failure to let workers earn paid sick
days puts the economic security of millions of families at
risk.
Senators, I certainly don't need to tell you how
devastating the current economic crisis has been for families.
Many families that once relied on two incomes are managing now
with just one or none. A survey commissioned last year by the
Public Welfare Foundation found that one in six workers
reported that they or a family member had been fired,
suspended, punished, or threatened with being fired, simply for
taking time off due to personal illness or to care for a sick
relative. That was before H1N1 and the recession. The pressures
now, are even worse.
Another survey, conducted just a month ago, found that five
in six workers say that the recession is creating added
pressure to show up for work even when they're sick. In a
humane and rational society, that's just not a choice workers
should be forced to make.
Furthermore, we know that paid sick days are good for
businesses. Responsible employers know that. They know that
when they take care of workers, workers stay on the job. They
know that workers with paid time off are more loyal and
productive. They know that keeping trained workers on the job
is less expensive than replacing them. They know that paid sick
days reduce presenteeism--people going to work sick and getting
other people sick. They know that paid sick days are not only
the right thing to do, but the smart thing to do.
In conclusion, just like the minimum wage, America needs a
Federal minimum standard of paid sick days that protects all
employees. The Healthy Families Act will provide that standard.
It would let workers earn up to 7 paid sick days a year to
recover from short-term illness, to care for a family member,
to seek routine medical care, or to seek assistance related to
domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. Congress should
waste no time in passing this bill.
I thank you for the opportunity to testify here today. We
look forward to working with you to pass the Healthy Families
Act.
Senator Dodd, I want to echo what Congresswoman DeLauro
said and recognize your leadership that has spanned more than
three decades on behalf of working families, understanding, to
your core, that it is time for our Nation's workplace policies
to catch up with the realities that families struggle with, day
in, day out.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Ness follows:]
Prepared Statement of Debra L. Ness
Good morning Chairman Dodd, Ranking Member Alexander, members of
the subcommittee and my distinguished fellow panelists. Thank you for
inviting us to talk about the policies our Nation's workers urgently
need during this H1N1 flu emergency.
I am Debra Ness, President of the National Partnership for Women &
Families, a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy group dedicated to
promoting fairness in the workplace, access to quality health care, and
policies that help workers meet the dual demands of work and family. I
am here to testify in support of the Healthy Families Act,
groundbreaking legislation that is tremendously important to working
people across the Nation--especially during this national H1N1 flu
emergency. The National Partnership for Women & Families leads broad-
based coalitions that support the Healthy Families Act. These
coalitions include children's, civil rights, women's, disability,
faith-based, community and anti-poverty groups as well as labor unions,
health agencies and leading researchers at top academic institutions.
They include 9 to 5, MomsRising.org, the Leadership Conference on Civil
Rights, the AFL-CIO and SEIU, the Family Values @ Work Consortium, the
National Organization for Women and dozens of other organizations.
Together, we urge Congress to pass the Healthy Families Act.
WORKERS NEED PAID SICK DAYS DURING THIS H1N1 FLU EMERGENCY
In recent months, much attention has focused on the H1N1 virus and
the best ways to contain it--and with good reason. H1N1 is a novel flu
virus that experts predict may result in many more illnesses,
hospitalizations and deaths this year than would be expected in a
typical flu season.\1\ Forty-eight States had ``widespread flu
activity'' as of Oct. 24, according to the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC).\2\ The CDC recorded nearly 26,000
hospitalizations and more than 2,900 deaths related to H1N1 flu between
Aug. 30 and Oct. 24.\3\ The virus is now so widespread that the CDC and
World Health Organization are no longer keeping track of the number of
individual cases. Officials estimate if 30 percent of the population
contract the virus, it could mean approximately 90 million people in
the United States could become ill, 1.8 million may need to be
hospitalized, and approximately 30,000 could die.\4\ As a result,
President Barack Obama declared the H1N1 flu outbreak a national
emergency, allowing hospitals and local governments to quickly set up
alternate sites for treatment and triage procedures if needed to handle
any surge of patients.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, ``About the Flu,''
http://pandemicflu.gov/individualfamily/about/index.html.
\2\ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2009-2010 Influenza
Season Week 42 ending October 24, 2009, http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/.
\3\ CDC, 2009 H1N1 Flu U.S. Situation Update, 10/2/09, http://
www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/updates/us/.
\4\ The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
``Report to the President on U.S. Preparations for 2009--H1N1
Influenza'', 8/7/09, www.whitehouse.gov/assets/documents/
PCAST_H1N1_Report.pdf.
\5\ New York Times, ``Obama Declares Swine Flu a National
Emergency'', www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/10/24/health/AP-US-Obama-
Swine-Flu.html?scp=3&sq=obama%20national%20
emergency%20swine%20flu&st=cse, 10/24/09.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Week after week, government officials urge sick workers to stay
home and keep sick children at home to prevent the spread of the H1N1
virus. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said that ``if an employee stays
home sick, it's not only the best thing for that employee's health, but
also his co-workers and the productivity of the company.'' \6\ Health
and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that ``one of the
most important things that employers can do is to make sure their human
resources and leave policies are flexible and follow public health
guidance.'' \7\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\6\ Associated Press, ``Government enlists employers' help to
contain flu,'' 8/19/09.
\7\ HHS News Release, 8/19/09, www.hhs.gov/news/press/2009pres/08/
20090819a.html.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The CDC has also issued recommendations: ``People with influenza-
like illness [must] remain at home until at least 24 hours after they
are free of fever . . . without the use of fever-reducing
medications.'' \8\ In addition to the guidance for workers, officials
have stated that schools and child care providers will need to rely on
parents to keep children at home if they are feverish.\9\ This is
excellent advice, as far as it goes, but unfortunately, taking this
advice isn't an option for millions of workers. They may want to do the
right thing and do all they can to prevent the spread of the H1N1
virus. But for many, doing their part means risking their paychecks and
even their jobs, because they lack job-protected paid sick days.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\8\ CDC, Recommendations for the Amount of Time Persons with
Influenza-Like Illness Should be Away, www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/guidance/
exclusion.htm.
\9\ Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy, Univ. of
Minn., www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/swineflu/news/
aug0709schools3.html.
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Working people need paid time off from their jobs to recover from
the H1N1 flu and care for sick family members--and prevent further
spread of the virus. Yet, the reality is that nearly half (48 percent)
of private-sector workers lack paid sick days.\10\ The same is true for
nearly four in five low-wage workers--the majority of whom are
women.\11\ Women also are disproportionately likely to lack paid sick
days because they are more likely than men to work part-time, or to
cobble together an income by holding more than one part-time position.
Only 16 percent of part-time workers have paid sick days, compared to
60 percent of full-time workers.\12\
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\10\ Vicky Lovell, Institute for Women's Policy Research, Women and
Paid Sick Days: Crucial for Family Well-Being, 2007.
\11\ Economic Policy Institute, Minimum Wage Issue Guide, 2007,
www.epi.org/content.cfm/issueguides_minwage.
\12\ Vicky Lovell, Institute for Women's Policy Research, No Time
to be Sick, 2004.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Especially during this epidemic, workers with caregiving
responsibilities in particular have an urgent need for paid sick days.
The highest H1N1 virus attack rate is among 5- to 24-year-olds, many of
whom need to stay home from school when sick--often with a parent to
care for them.\13\ That's why the lack of paid sick days is
particularly challenging for working women--the very people who have
primary responsibility for most family caregiving. In fact, almost half
of working mothers report that they must miss work when a child is
sick. Of these mothers, 49 percent do not get paid when they miss work
to care for a sick child.\14\
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\13\ CDC, Novel H1N1 Flu: Facts and Figures, www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/
surveillanceqa.htm.
\14\ Kaiser Family Foundation, ``Women, Work and Family Health: A
Balancing Act,'' Issue Brief, April 2003.
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OUR FAILURE TO ESTABLISH A PAID-SICK-DAYS STANDARD IS PUTTING THE
PUBLIC HEALTH AT RISK DURING THE H1N1 EMERGENCY
Our Nation's failure to provide a minimum standard of paid sick
days is putting our public health at risk. Many of the workers who
interact with the public every day are without paid sick days. Only 22
percent of food and public accommodation workers have any paid sick
days, for example. Workers in child care centers and nursing homes, and
retail clerks disproportionately lack paid sick days.\15\ Because the
lack of paid sick days forces employees to work when they are ill,
their coworkers and the general public are at risk of contagion.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\15\ Vicky Lovell, Institute for Women's Policy Research, No Time
to be Sick, 2004.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Research released this year by Human Impact Partners, a non-profit
project of the Tides Center, and the San Francisco Department of Public
Health, found that providing paid sick days to workers will
significantly improve the Nation's health. This groundbreaking study
found that guaranteeing paid sick days would reduce the spread of
pandemic and seasonal flu. More than two-thirds of flu cases are
transmitted in schools and workplaces. Staying home when infected could
reduce by 15 to 34 percent the proportion of people impacted by
pandemic influenza.
The Human Impact Partners analysis also found that if all workers
had paid sick days, they would be less likely to spread food-borne
disease in restaurants and the number of outbreaks of gastrointestinal
disease in nursing homes would reduce. The researchers provided
evidence that paid sick days may be linked to less severe illness and
shorter disability due to sickness, because workers with paid sick days
are 14 percent more likely to visit a medical practitioner each year,
which can translate into fewer severe illnesses and hospitalizations.
They also found that parents with paid time off are more than five
times more likely to provide care for their sick children.
Recent data on the impact of the H1N1 virus in Boston, MA shows
that the outbreak has hit certain mostly low-income communities harder
than other communities. The Boston Public Health Commission reported
that more than three in four Bostonians who were hospitalized because
of H1N1 were black or Hispanic.\16\ Boston's experience is not unique.
Communities of color all across the country face similar health
disparities and they may be due, in part, to the fact that low-wage
workers are less likely to have paid sick days.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\16\ Cases of swine flu higher among city blacks, Hispanics,
Stephen Smith, Globe Staff, August 18, 2009, http://www.boston.com/
news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/08/18/cases_of_
swine_flu_higher_among_bostons_blacks_hispanics?mode=PF.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
BEYOND THE H1N1 EMERGENCY
While the need for paid sick days may seem particularly compelling
during the H1N1 emergency, the reality is that working families
struggled without paid sick days prior to this emergency, and they will
continue to struggle after this emergency unless Congress takes action.
Paid sick days aren't just about protecting the public's health--they
are also about protecting the economic security of millions of workers
and their families. One in six workers report that they or a family
member have been fired, suspended, punished or threatened with being
fired for taking time off due to personal illness or to care for a sick
relative, according to a 2008 University of Chicago survey commissioned
by the Public Welfare Foundation. To put a face on some of those
statistics, I'd like to share with you a few stories from working
people:
Heather from Cedar Crest, NM told us:
``In October, I got very sick with diverticulitis. My doctor
put me on bed rest for 2 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 2 years. I was shocked. Sometimes things happen and you get
sick. How are you to foresee these things?''
Noel from Bellingham, WA wrote to us:
``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.''
The H1N1 outbreak has come during a painful recession, and both
have exacerbated the need for paid sick days. I don't need to tell you
that the economic crisis has been devastating for working families.
More than 11.6 million workers have lost their jobs, and millions more
are underemployed. In October, the unemployment rate was 10.2 percent--
the highest level since December 1983. The unemployment rate for
African-Americans was 15.7 percent, the rate for Hispanics was 13.1
percent, and the rate for whites was 9.5 percent in October 2009.\17\
For many families that once relied on two incomes, this crisis has
meant managing on one income or no income at all. As a result, families
are not only losing their economic stability, but their homes: one in
nine mortgages is delinquent or in foreclosure.\18\
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\17\ U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Economic News Release,
Employment Situation Summary, Nov. 6, 2009, http://data.bls.gov/cgi-
bin/print.pl/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm.
\18\ Center for American Progress, www.americanprogress.org/issues/
2009/03/econ_snap
shot_0309.html, March 2009.
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Five out of six workers (84 percent) say the recession and the
scarcity of jobs are creating more pressure to show up for work, even
when they are sick.\19\ Workers are understandably anxious about their
job security, and many are unable to take any risk that might
jeopardize their employment--even if they are stricken with H1N1.
Especially now, when so many workers are suffering terribly, we must
put in place a minimum labor standard so taking time off for illness
doesn't lead to financial disaster. Workers have always gotten sick and
always needed to care for children, family members and older
relatives--and they have always managed to be productive, responsible
employees. But without a basic labor standard of paid sick days,
families' economic security can be at grave risk when illness strikes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\19\ Angus Reid Strategies for Mansfield Communications online
survey of 1,028 workers, conducted 9/10-9/12/09. Margin of error: +/-
3.1% points.
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In addition, as our population ages, more workers are providing
care for elderly parents. When working people have to take unpaid time
off to care for a parent, spouse or sibling, they face often-terrible
financial hardship. More than 34 million caregivers provide assistance
at the weekly equivalent of a part-time job (more than 21 hours per
week), and the estimated economic value of this support is roughly
equal to $350 billion \20\--a huge contribution to the health and well-
being of their families. Caregivers contribute more than time; 98
percent reported spending on average $5,531 a year, or one-tenth of
their salary, for out-of-pocket expenses.\21\ Yet, many lose wages each
time they must do something as simple as taking a family member to the
doctor.
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\20\ Gibson, Mary Jo and Houser, Ari, ``Valuing the Invaluable: A
New Look at the Economic Value of Family Caregiving.'' AARP, June 2007.
\21\ Jane Gross, ``Study Finds Higher Costs for Caregivers of
Elderly,'' New York Times, 11/19/07.
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businesses benefit from paid sick days policies
Research confirms what working families and responsible employers
already know: when businesses take care of their workers, they are
better able to retain them, and when workers have the security of paid
time off, their commitment, productivity and morale increases, and
employers reap the benefits of lower turnover and training costs.
Furthermore, studies show that the costs of losing an employee
(advertising for, interviewing and training a replacement) is often
much greater than the cost of providing short-term leave to retain
existing employees. The average cost of turnover is 25 percent of an
employee's total annual compensation.\22\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\22\ Employment Policy Foundation 2002. ``Employee Turnover--A
Critical Human Resource Benchmark.'' HR Benchmarks (December 3): 1-5.
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As mentioned previously, paid sick days policies also help reduce
the spread of illness in workplaces, schools and child care facilities.
In this economy, and during this time of a national health emergency,
businesses cannot afford ``presenteeism,'' which occurs when, rather
than staying at home, sick employees come to work and infect their co-
workers, lowering the overall productivity of the workplace.
``Presenteeism'' costs our national economy $180 billion annually in
lost productivity. For employers, this costs an average of $255 per
employee per year and exceeds the cost of absenteeism.\23\ In addition,
paid sick days policies help level the playing field and make it easier
for businesses to compete for the best workers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\23\ Ron Goetzal, et al, Health Absence, Disability, and
Presenteeism Cost Estimates of Certain Physical and Mental Health
Conditions Affecting U.S. Employers, Journal of Occupational and
Environmental Medicine, April 2004.
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Already, many savvy employers have responded to the H1N1 outbreak
by expanding or improving their paid sick days policies. For example,
Medtronic Inc. has reacted by granting all its employees, including
hourly workers, 3 additional paid sick days. Best Buy has instructed
its managers to send employees home if they arrive at work sick, and to
pay them for the remainder of the day, even if they do not have any
sick time.\24\ Texas Instruments, Inc. has relaxed its sick days
policy, allowing workers to take as many days as they need to recover,
by granting them the option of borrowing against future leave.\25\
These businesses and many others know that it is in their best interest
to make sure that they do not have masses of sick workers on the job.
They know that paid sick days must be part of their operating plans if
they are going to keep their doors open and their businesses thriving
during these difficult economic times.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\24\ Next test: Flu 101, Suzanne Ziegler, Minneapolis Star Tribune,
September 23, 2009 www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/
60463767.html?elr=KArksi8cyaiUo8cyaiUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aU
U.
\25\ Sick Time: Employers Gear Up for Swine Flu, Betsy McKay and
Dana Mattioli, Wall Street Journal, November 2, 2009, http://
online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704746304574508
110025260366.html.
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THE NATION NEEDS POLICIES THAT ALLOW WORKERS TO MEET THEIR JOB
AND FAMILY RESPONSIBILITIES
Our Nation has a proud history of passing laws that help workers in
times of economic crisis. Social Security and Unemployment Insurance
became law in 1935; the Fair Labor Standards Act and the National Labor
Relations Act became law in 1938, all in response to the crisis the
Nation faced during the Great Depression. Working people should not
have to risk their financial health when they do what all of us agree
is the right thing--take a few days to recover from contagious illness,
or care for a family member who needs them. Now is the time to protect
our communities and put family values to work by adopting policies that
guarantee a basic workplace standard of paid sick days.
At present, no State requires private employers to provide paid
sick days. The cities of San Francisco, the District of Columbia and
Milwaukee have passed ordinances requiring that private employers
provide paid sick days. This year, more than 15 cities and States have
considered paid sick days laws to ensure that this basic labor standard
becomes a right for all workers. This is a National movement now, and
we expect it to expand to more than 25 campaigns next year. But illness
knows no geographic boundaries, and access to paid sick days should not
depend on where you happen to work. That's why a Federal paid sick days
standard is so badly needed.
Like the minimum wage, there should be a Federal minimum standard
of paid sick days that protects all employees, with States and
individual employers given the freedom to go above the Federal standard
as needed to address particular needs of their residents or workers.
The Healthy Families Act would create just that: a Federal floor that
allows workers to earn up to 7 paid sick days a year to recover from
short-term illness, to care for a sick family member, for routine
medical care or to seek assistance related to domestic violence, sexual
assault or stalking.
Congress should waste no time in passing the Healthy Families Act
so that working people can earn paid time off and help prevent the
spread of the H1N1 virus and other illnesses--without jeopardizing
their economic security.
Chairman Dodd and members of the subcommittee, I thank you for the
opportunity to participate in this important discussion, and we look
forward to working with you to ensure that America's workers have a
basic right of paid sick days.
Senator Dodd. Well, thank you, as well. I appreciate those
kind comments, and I thank you for your work over the years, as
well. You've been a great asset and help in helping us craft
these ideas. I thank you. A pleasure to have you with us today.
Ms. Rosado, we welcome you. It's nice to have a constituent
from Connecticut come on down and be with us. You can give us
some valuable information. We welcome your comments this
morning.
STATEMENT OF DESIREE ROSADO, WORKER, GROTON, CT
Ms. Rosado. Thank you.
First of all, I want to thank you, Senator Dodd and members
of the subcommittee, for holding this hearing on the costs of
being sick. It is an issue that matters deeply to families like
mine, in Connecticut and around the country. Thank you also for
giving me the opportunity to testify here today.
Like Senator Dodd said, my name is Desiree Rosado. I've
been married for 13 years. I have three children, ages 12, 10,
and 6. My oldest daughter, Isabella, is in the seventh grade,
in middle school. My middle daughter, Alicia, is in the fifth
grade. And my son, David, is in the second grade.
Like most, we are a working family. I've lived in Groton,
CT, for 12 years, and I've worked in the Groton public school
system for the last 3 years. My job is in special education,
and I work as a one-on-one assistant in the school that Alicia
and David attend. My husband works as a security guard, third-
shift supervisor, at the Groton Naval Submarine Base. He's been
working there for about 5 years. We are members of a church
called International Family Worship Center, where my husband
and I head the Praise and Worship Department.
In our community, I can't even tell you how many sick kids
we've seen sent home from school or kept home due to illness,
these last several weeks. I think it's fair to say that just
about every family has either been affected by the illness or
is worried that their children will be infected.
Mine were. All three of my children were sick this fall.
They've been healthy for about a week and a half now. It was
rough going, for a while. First, Alicia, my middle daughter,
got a terrible headache, followed by fever of about 102 that
lasted for almost a week. She had stomach pain, dizziness, and
body aches. I had to miss work to stay home and take care of
her for that week. The very day Alicia was able to go back to
school, I went back to work, and I had been in class for about
1 hour when the school nurse called to tell me that my son,
David, had a fever of 101 and he had to go home. My daughter,
my oldest daughter, Isabella, she fell ill that same day, and
she and David were both sick for about a week. And then
Isabella developed a sinus infection and bronchitis, as well,
after the flu.
In all, I missed about 2 weeks of work to care for my kids.
I get no sick pay from my job, so my paycheck for that period
was almost nothing. That caused tremendous hardship for my
family.
My husband and I live paycheck to paycheck right now,
because we have no choice. We're trying to pay down our debts
and make our family financially stable, but it is a hard road.
And it's made a lot harder because, whenever we get sick or our
children get sick, we have to decide whether to stay home
without pay or to disregard doctor's orders and risk getting
sicker and infecting others by going to work or school.
When I don't get paid, it wreaks havoc on our family
budget. My husband handles the finances, and he is able to
juggle things around so we can make ends meet. Sometimes we end
up having to borrow from our rent money that we've put aside,
and we hate to do that, but sometimes we have no choice.
That's one of the reasons I joined MomsRising, a wonderful
million-member online organization that represents mothers like
me across the country. MomsRising supports the Healthy Families
Act because families like mine need to be able to earn paid
sick days so we don't have to borrow from our rent money and go
deeper into debt every time our kids get sick.
When I was asked if I would come here and share my story
and tell you how my family's been affected by this, I was more
than willing, because having no paid sick days has really hurt
our family's finances and economic stability. I'm speaking not
only for myself, but for many other moms and families who are
dealing with the same thing right now, and who really need
relief.
Being able to earn paid sick days would help so many
parents and families I know through my work, church, and my
community, and many more people that I don't know personally,
but who are struggling with these same issues.
I'm honored to be here today to take part in this hearing
and to have a chance to tell you my story. I hope it will make
a difference and convince you to pass the Healthy Families Act
so all workers will be able to earn paid sick days.
Thank you.
Senator Dodd. Well, we thank you very much, Ms. Rosado. It
takes a lot of courage to come and tell a personal story.
Ms. Rosado. Thank you.
Senator Dodd. And with that thing spreading through your
family, which is not uncommon.
Ms. Rosado. Yes.
Senator Dodd. I'm learning about--I used to understand this
issue intellectually.
[Laughter.]
Now that I have a 4-year-old and an 8-year-old, I've
learned about it personally. Living with a Petri dish is
usually a fascinating experience. I'm told I can anticipate
having six colds a year, I think is what they anticipate,
anyone with young children in school age, not to mention a time
now, when obviously there's a heightened degree of problems
with these issues.
Anyway, we thank you very, very much, and honored that
you're here.
Ms. Rosado. Thank you.
Senator Dodd. Ms. O'Brien.
STATEMENT OF ELISSA C. O'BRIEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF HUMAN
RESOURCES, WINGATE HEALTHCARE, ON BEHALF OF THE SOCIETY OF
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, NEEDHAM, MA
Ms. O'Brien. Chairman Dodd, Ranking Member Enzi, and
distinguished members of the subcommittee, my name is Elissa
O'Brien. I'm vice president of Human Resources at Wingate
Healthcare, which operates and manage skilled nursing
facilities and assisted living residents throughout
Massachusetts and in New York.
I appear today on behalf of the Society for Human Resource
Management, or SHRM. As one of SHRM's more than 250,000
members, I thank you for this opportunity to be here today to
examine our Nation's response to H1N1 and paid sick leave
proposals.
Most employers and HR professionals are doing their part to
respond to the current H1N1 flu pandemic by educating employees
and taking common sense steps to prevent the spread of the
virus in the workplace while maintaining critical business
functions.
I will briefly outline what Wingate Healthcare is doing to
protect its facilities and employees, and then discuss a
broader issue of mandated paid leave.
At Wingate, we offer a very generous paid-time-off plan,
which we like to call PTO. That provides our 4,000 employees
with paid leave to use for any reason. Providing care to the
sick, disabled, and elderly on a 24/7 basis requires that we
make every effort to prevent the spread of illness in our
facilities and to our patients. Therefore, Wingate's policy
encourages employees to stay at home if they are experiencing
any flu-like symptoms, and advises them to stay at home until
they are free from fever. Wingate also offers alternative
scheduling and telecommuting options for some employees to care
for their sick family member.
Wingate has taken other specific measures to protect our
employees and patients. For example, we have provided our staff
with the seasonal flu vaccines, although we are experiencing
some backlogs. We are also working to obtain the H1N1 vaccine,
although this, too, has proven very difficult.
Obviously, the current H1N1 threat has thrust the issue of
paid leave into the national debate. Employers and HR
professionals have long understood the value of providing
voluntary paid leave plans to employees as a recruitment and
retention tool. Paid sick leave, mandated, however, could
negatively impact those organizations who are already providing
generous paid leave benefits.
SHRM has a strong concern with a one-size-fits-all mandate
encompassed in S. 1152, the Healthy Families Act, or HFA. I
would like to note four significant challenges with the bill,
from an HR professional's perspective.
First, the HFA, like the current FMLA, proscribes a series
of vague and ill-defined qualifying events that may trigger
leave eligibility for an employee.
Second, the HFA would likely disrupt current employer paid
leave offerings. For example, it is unclear how the HFA's paid
sick leave requirement would impact paid time-off plans.
Third, the HFA would not pre-empt any State or local laws
that provide a greater paid leave and leave rights, thus
forcing employers to comply with a patchwork of varying
Federal, State, and local leave laws.
And finally, the HFA inflexible approach could cause
employers to reduce wages and other benefits to pay for the
leave mandate and associate a compliance cost, thereby limiting
employees' benefits and compensation options.
SHRM believes we need to adopt a different approach to all
leave policies, an approach that reflects the needs of today's
more mobile, diverse and flexible 21st-century workforce.
Based on HR's years of experience on the front line in
implementing leave statutes like FMLA, we believe Congress
should offer incentives for employers to do more, not to risk
unintended consequences of another government mandate.
SHRM has developed a set of five principles to help guide
the creation of this new leave policy. Briefly stated:
First, SHRM believes that a new workplace leave policy must
meet the needs of both the employees and employers.
Second, employees should be encouraged to voluntarily
provide paid leave to help employees meet work and personal
life obligations through a safe-harbor leave standard.
Third, a new policy should encourage maximum flexibility,
creativity, and innovation for both employees and employers.
Fourth, this policy must avoid a mandated one-size-fits-all
approach and instead recognize that paid leave offerings should
accommodate the increasing diversity of the workforce needs and
environments.
And fifth, the policy must support a variety of work
options, such as telecommuting, flexible work arrangements, job
sharing, and compressed and reduced schedules.
SHRM is committed in working with Congress to determine a
workplace flexibility policy that will lead more organizations
to offer this type of paid leave and other benefits that make
the most sense for employees and families.
I thank you for your time today, and I look forward to your
questions.
[The prepared statement of Ms. O'Brien follows:]
Prepared Statement of Elissa O'Brien, SPHR
Chairman Dodd, Ranking Member Alexander and distinguished members
of the subcommittee, my name is Elissa O'Brien. I am the Vice President
of Human Resources for Wingate Healthcare, a privately owned health
care provider that operates and manages high quality, skilled nursing
facilities and assisted living residences throughout Massachusetts and
New York.
I appear today on behalf of the Society for Human Resource
Management (SHRM), the world's largest association devoted to serving
the needs of human resource professionals and to advancing the HR
profession. On behalf of SHRM's more than 250,000 members, I thank you
for the opportunity to appear before the subcommittee to examine our
Nation's response to H1N1 and paid sick leave proposals.
Clearly, the top-of-mind issue for this committee is the current
H1N1 flu pandemic and what Congress can do to help Americans deal with
a potential health care crisis. A national health emergency such as
H1N1 comes along extremely infrequently, and few institutions, public
or private, can be fully prepared--as we cannot predict the severity of
the impact. Despite this uncertainty, employers must take every
precaution to educate our employees and take common-sense steps to
prevent the spread of the virus in the workplace. Our efforts must
focus both on ensuring the well-being of our employees, and making sure
plans are in place to maintain critical business functions. In my
testimony today I will briefly outline what Wingate Healthcare is doing
to protect its facilities and employees, the efforts SHRM has
undertaken to educate our members and the profession on H1N1, and
discuss the broader issue of mandated paid sick leave.
At Wingate, we offer a very generous paid time off (PTO) plan that
provides our 4,000 employees with paid leave to use for any reason. The
nature of our business--providing care for the sick, disabled and
elderly on a 24-7 basis--requires that we make every effort possible to
prevent the spread of illness in our facilities and to our patients.
Wingate policy, therefore, encourages employees to stay home if they
are experiencing any flu-like symptoms such as fever, cough, or fatigue
and advises them to remain at home until they are free from fever. Our
policies are designed to provide maximum flexibility for our workers,
and include a PTO bank consisting of 26 days of paid leave for new
employees, growing to 33 days for those who have been with Wingate for
7 years or more. A flexible PTO policy such as ours supports and
encourages employees to stay home for their illness, or if needed, to
stay home to care for a close family member with an illness. Wingate
also offers alternative schedules and a telecommuting option for some
employees to use to care for a sick family member.
In addition to encouraging sick workers to use their paid time off
and recuperate at home, Wingate has taken other specific measures in
our facilities to protect our employees and patients from the spread of
illness. This includes distribution of a ``Wingate Bag'' that includes
Lysol, tissues, hand sanitizer and information on how to keep healthy.
These bags have been distributed organization-wide to our employees who
work in an office setting. We have also installed hand sanitizer
throughout our facilities. As part of our proactive measures, as we do
every year, we have provided our staff with the seasonal flu vaccine at
the company's expense, although we are experiencing some backlogs in
obtaining the vaccine this year. In addition, Wingate is working to
obtain the H1N1 vaccine for our employees, although this too has proven
difficult.
As I stated, no institution can be fully prepared--but we are
confident that we are doing everything we can to protect our facilities
from the H1N1 virus. We are also proud that our efforts have been
recognized by SHRM as an example to employers and human resource
professionals on how to best prepare for a health emergency such as
H1N1. SHRM's leadership in the employer community on this issue has
been extremely beneficial, and I believe will help lessen the impact of
the H1N1 pandemic in workplaces throughout the country.
With the early outbreak in 2008 of H1N1 influenza, SHRM and HR
professionals across the country began to prepare for a more serious
and widespread pandemic in 2009. In preparation, SHRM and the Center
for Infectious Disease Research & Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of
Minnesota partnered together to host a 2-day summit, ``Keeping the
World Working During the H1N1 Pandemic: Protecting Employee Health,
Critical Operations, and Customer Relations.'' Leaders and presenters
of four breakout sessions encouraged candid sharing among attendees,
keeping the focus on practical tools, tips, and resources that can be
put into action right away.
Following the summit, SHRM consulted with the government's leading
health authorities--the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC), and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA)--to compile information for employers to prepare for and respond
to a widespread influenza pandemic in the workplace. In collaboration
with CIDRAP, we created the toolkit, Doing Business During an Influenza
Pandemic: Human Resources Policies, Protocols, Templates, Tools, & Tip.
From SHRM's perspective, most employers and HR professionals are
responding appropriately and proactively during this national
emergency. While Wingate's flexible paid time off policy may be an
example of an ``effective practice''--other employers are doing what
they can by relaxing attendance or absenteeism policies, allowing more
alternative schedules, promoting telecommuting, or simply addressing
employee needs as required. In a poll of its members conducted last
May, 67 percent of SHRM members indicated that they either planned to,
or were currently sending employees home if they came to work with flu-
or cold-like symptoms. As the national focus on H1N1 has grown in
recent months, we believe that it is highly likely that an even larger
percentage of employers have adopted a similar approach.
FLEXIBLE PAID TIME OFF PROGRAMS
Obviously, the H1N1 pandemic has thrust the issue of paid sick
leave into the national debate. Employers and HR professionals have
long understood the value of providing paid leave to employees. For
example, according to the SHRM 2009 Examining Paid Leave in the
Workplace Survey, 81 percent of responding SHRM members reported that
their organization offered some form of paid leave while 88 percent
offered paid vacation leave. In addition, 2008 data from the Bureau of
Labor Statistics suggests that 83 percent of private sector workers had
access to paid illness leave. Because many employers already offer
generous paid leave, efforts to mandate paid sick leave would likely
result in unintended consequences that could negatively impact both
employers and employees, as discussed later in my testimony.
The current flu pandemic illustrates the need for a 21st Century
workplace flexibility policy that adapts to emergency situations,
reflects the nature of today's workforce, and meets the needs of both
employees and employers. It should enable employees to balance their
work and personal needs while providing predictability and stability to
employers. Most importantly, such an approach must encourage employers
to offer greater flexibility, creativity and innovation to meet the
needs of their employees and their families.
At Wingate, our flexible PTO program allows our employees to
schedule their time off to meet personal and individual needs,
including observing holidays, caring for a family member, illness or
injury, vacation, or tending to personal matters. For most employees,
unused days are automatically rolled into an employee's ``Extended
Illness Bank,'' which ensures compensation for illness and injury that
last more than 5 days. After an absence of more than 15 days, our Short
Term Disability benefit is available for employees, providing much-
needed assistance. I have attached a copy of Wingate Healthcare's Paid
Time Off Policies and Procedures for the record.
Wingate's PTO program reflects the principles for paid leave that
the Society for Human Resource Management advocates. Both SHRM and
Wingate believe that any Federal leave policy should:
Provide certainty, predictability and accountability for
employees and employers.
Encourage employers to offer paid leave under a uniform
and coordinated set of rules that would replace and simplify the
confusing--and often conflicting--existing patchwork of regulations.
Create administrative and compliance incentives for
employers who offer paid leave by offering them a safe-harbor standard
that would facilitate compliance and save on administrative costs.
Allow for different work environments, union
representation, industries and organizational size.
Permit employers that voluntarily meet safe harbor leave
standards to satisfy Federal, State and local leave requirements.
I have attached a copy of SHRM's Principles for a 21st Century
Workplace Flexibility Policy for the record.
The collective membership of SHRM represents the professionals who
develop and implement human resource policies in organizations
throughout the country and, as such, are responsible for administering
employee benefit plans, including paid time-off programs. Our members
are also constantly looking for ways to adapt and design workplace
policies that improve employee morale and retention--two essential
elements in developing and maintaining a productive workforce. It just
makes sense that offering a solid benefits program makes it easier for
organizations to attract and retain great employees.
Given the practical experience SHRM and its members possess, we
believe we are uniquely positioned to provide insight on a sensible
Federal leave policy that ensures fairness and balance for employees
and employers and we urge Congress to take a serious look at adopting
policies that will encourage employers to adopt the type of flexible
paid time off program that has worked so well for Wingate Healthcare
and its employees.
FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT
As Congress considers workplace leave policy, I'd like to take a
moment to point out the pitfalls that can accompany a new government
mandate. Since its enactment in 1993, the Family and Medical Leave Act
(FMLA) has helped millions of employees and their families, yet not
without consequences. Key aspects of the regulations governing the
statute's medical leave provisions, however, have drifted far from the
original intent of the act, creating challenges for both employers and
employees.
As you know, the FMLA provides unpaid leave for the birth, adoption
or foster care placement of an employee's child, as well as for the
``serious health condition'' of a spouse, son, daughter, or parent, or
for the employee's own medical condition.
From the beginning, HR professionals have struggled to interpret
various provisions of the FMLA. What began as a fairly simple 12-page
document has become 200 pages of regulations governing how the law is
to be implemented. This is the result of a well-intentioned, but
counter-productive attempt to anticipate and micro-manage every
situation in every workplace in every industry--without regard for the
evolving and diverse needs of today's workforce.
Among the problems associated with implementing the FMLA are the
definitions of a serious health condition, intermittent leave, and
medical certifications. Vague FMLA rules mean that practically any
ailment lasting 3 calendar days and including a doctor's visit, now
qualifies as a serious medical condition. Although we believe Congress
intended medical leave under the FMLA to be taken only for truly
serious health conditions, SHRM members regularly report that
individuals use this leave to avoid coming to work even when they are
not experiencing serious symptoms. This behavior is damaging to
employers and fellow employees alike.
However well-intended the original FMLA legislation was,
proscriptive attempts to micro-manage how, when and under what
circumstances leave must be requested, granted, documented and used are
counter-productive to encouraging flexibility and innovation. This is
an especially important lesson when considering legislation that would
mandate paid sick leave.
HEALTHY FAMILIES ACT
SHRM has strong concerns with the one-size-fits-all mandate
encompassed in S. 1152, the ``Healthy Families Act'' (HFA). The bill
would require public and private employers with 15 or more employees
for 20 or more calendar workweeks in the current or preceding year to
accrue 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. Under the
HFA, an employee begins accruing the sick time upon commencement of
employment and is able to begin using the leave after 60 days. The paid
sick time could be used for the employee's own medical needs or to care
for a child, parent, spouse, or any other blood relative, or for an
absence resulting from domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking.
We share the goal that employees should have the ability to take
time off to attend to their own or a close family member's health, and
that the leave should be paid. However, at a time when employers are
facing unprecedented challenges, imposing a costly paid leave mandate
on employers could easily result in additional job loss or cuts in
other important employee benefits. While the HFA presents a host of
practical concerns, I would note four significant challenges with this
bill from an HR professional's perspective.
First, the HFA, like the current FMLA, prescribes a series of vague
and ill-defined qualifying events that may trigger leave eligibility
for the employee. Under the current FMLA, employers and employees alike
must make a determination if the requested leave is eligible for
coverage as a qualifying event. While in many instances this
determination of leave eligibility under the FMLA can be made easily,
in others it requires the employer and employee to make a rather
subjective, sometimes intrusive determination to determine leave
eligibility--often leaving both parties frustrated and distrustful of
each other. Unfortunately, we anticipate that employers and employees
will have a similar experience under the HFA in trying to determine
leave eligibility.
Second, although it may not be the intention of the bill sponsors,
the HFA would disrupt current employer paid leave offerings. For
example, if an employer's existing paid leave policy fails to meet all
the requirements of the act, the employer's plan would need to be
amended to comply with the HFA requirements. In addition, it is unclear
how the HFA's paid ``sick'' leave requirement would impact paid time
off plans, programs that are growing in popularity. In fact, more and
more employers have begun to offer Paid Time Off plans, similar to the
one offered at Wingate Healthcare, in lieu of other employer-sponsored
paid leave programs because these types of plans are preferred by
employees and employers. According to the SHRM 2009 Examining Paid
Leave in the Workplace Survey, 42 percent of employers offer PTO plans
to their employees. Congress should build on the progress that is
already being made by offering incentives for employers to do more--not
risk the unintended consequences of an onerous government mandate that
could very well result in decreased benefits and fewer new jobs.
Third, the HFA specifically states that the act does not supersede
any State or local law that provides greater paid sick time or leave
rights, thus forcing employers to comply with a patchwork of varying
Federal, State and/or local leave laws--as well as their own leave
policies. As it stands now, employers consistently report challenges in
navigating the various conflicting requirements of overlapping State
and Federal leave and disability laws. The HFA would only add to the
already complex web of inconsistent but overlapping leave obligations
under Federal and State laws.
Finally, the HFA's inflexible approach could cause employers to
reduce wages or other benefits to pay for the leave mandate and
associated compliance costs, thereby limiting employees' benefit and
compensation options. This is because employers have a finite pool of
resources for total compensation. If organizations are required to
offer paid sick leave, they will likely ``absorb'' this added cost by
cutting back or eliminating other employee benefits, such as health or
retirement benefits, or forgo wage increases, a potential loss to
employees who prefer other benefits rather than paid sick leave.
SHRM believes the Federal Government should encourage paid leave--
without creating new mandates on employers and employees. As has been
our experience under the FMLA, inflexible mandates and proscriptive
regulations are counter-productive to encouraging flexibility and
innovation. As a result, the focus is on documentation of incremental
leave and the reasons for the leave, rather than on seeking innovative
ways to help employees to balance the demands of both work and personal
life. Another rigid Federal mandate would be more of the same.
CONCLUSION
SHRM and the 250,000 human resource professionals it represents
believe that it is time to give employees choices and give employers
more predictability when it comes to a Federal leave policy. We believe
employers should be encouraged to provide the paid leave their
workforces need--and let employees decide how to use it. From our
perspective, a government-mandated approach to providing leave is a
clear example of what won't work--particularly during a time of
economic crisis.
It is clear that the H1N1 pandemic presents extreme challenges to
business, government and non-profit organizations of all types. SHRM
and its members are focused on keeping their workforces as safe and
healthy as possible and keeping their businesses running until this
public health threat has run its course. In the meantime, we caution
against rushing to impose new mandates that will do more harm than
good. Rather, we welcome the opportunity to work with Congress to
develop a more modern workplace flexibility policy. Thank you for the
opportunity to testify before the committee and I welcome your
questions.
Attachment 1.--Wingate Healthcare, Inc.
Paid Time Off Policies and Procedures
EFFECTIVE DATE
This document describes the Wingate Healthcare Paid Time Off
(hereinafter referred to as ``PTO'') policy in effect as of January 1,
2005.
DISCLAIMER
This policy supercedes all prior ``time off '' policies and
procedures, including any representations or interpretations of ``time
off '' policies or procedures that are inconsistent with this
memorandum.
ELIGIBLE USES OF SCHEDULED PAID TIME OFF
The Company's PTO policy provide employees with the flexibility to
schedule their time off to meet personal and individual needs,
including observing holidays, caring for a family member, illness or
injury, vacation, or tending to personal matters.
ELIGIBILITY
Full and part-time employees that are regularly scheduled to work
at least 24 hours per ``Pay Period'' (defined as Sunday through
Saturday) accrue PTO on a weekly basis. Pay-in-lieu of benefits, per
diems and temporary employees are ineligible for PTO benefits.
PTO does not accrue during the first 90 days of employment. Upon
successfully completing 90 days of employment, employees will be
credited with PTO from the first day of employment. Employees who cease
employment prior to 90 days are not entitled to any PTO benefits.
ACCRUAL PERIOD
PTO accrues and resets every 12 months, beginning on each
employee's employment ``Anniversary Date'' (defined as the employee's
date of hire). Such 12-month period is referred to herein as an
``Employment Year''. PTO balances will reset to zero annually, on the
employee's Anniversary Date and unused PTO balances do not carry
forward to the following Employment Year for hourly non-exempt
employees. However, unused PTO will automatically transfer to the
employee's Extended Illness Bank. Please see the section on Extended
Illness Bank below, for bank maximums and details. Management and
exempt-level employees are allowed to carry over a maximum of 1 week
PTO time into the following year and any outstanding unused PTO will
automatically transfer to the employee's Extended Illness Bank. Please
see the section on Extended Illness Bank below, for bank maximums and
details.
ACCRUAL RATES
PTO accrues on a weekly basis, based on the number of hours an
employee works in a Pay Period. PTO does not accrue on any hours worked
in excess of 40 in a Pay Period. The amount of PTO employees accrue is
based on their position and seniority with the Company, as detailed in
the following chart.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
0 through 3 Years 4 Years of 5 and 6 Years of 7 or More Years
of Service Service Service of Service
Position Level -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maximum Weekly Maximum Weekly Maximum Weekly Maximum Weekly
Accrual Accrual Accrual Accrual
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Administrators, DNS, Department 5.08 Hrs/ Week 5.08 Hrs/ Week 5.39 Hrs/ Week 5.54 Hrs/ Week
Heads, Managers, Including (33 Days/Year). (33 Days/Year). (35 Days/Year). (36 Days/Year).
Exempt Level Staff.
All Other Staff................. 4.00 Hrs/ Week 4.77 Hrs/ Week 4.92 Hrs/ Week 5.08 Hrs/ Week
(26 Days/Year). (31 Days/Year). (32 Days/Year). (33 Days/Year).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This chart reflects accruals based on a full-time, 40-hour-per-week position. Part-time employees accrue PTO on
a prorated basis.
REQUESTING AND USING PTO
To use PTO, employees must complete a Time Off Request Form at
least 2 weeks in advance, typically before the applicable work schedule
is posted. Though we attempt to accommodate employees' PTO requests,
approval is based on the needs of the facility. In the event of
scheduling conflicts, PTO will be granted on the basis of seniority
and/or the date of request. Scheduling and approving PTO requests is
the responsibility of the Department Head or Supervisor and is subject
to final approval by the Administrator.
PTO may be taken as it accrues and in increments of one (1) hour.
No more than forty (40) hours may be taken in a Pay Period. PTO request
over 2 weeks will not be approved. Facilities reserve the right to
limit PTO request on no more than a week in peak time off months.
Employees who need to take an extended time off must apply for a Leave
of Absence. Policy is detailed in the Company's Employee Handbook.
PTO balances must be used during the Employment Year in which it
accrues. PTO balances do not carry forward to the following Employment
Year except for management and exempt-level personnel who are allowed
to carry over no more than 1 week of PTO (maximum 40 hours) in an
Employment Year. Please refer to the Accrual Period section of this
policy for details.
APPROVAL PROCESS
In order to assist staff in planning for time-off, approval or
denial of PTO requests will be completed within 2 weeks of the request.
BUYING BACK PTO DAYS
Hourly, non-exempt employees may buy back up to 24 days of their
accrued PTO in any Employment Year. However, employees may not buy back
more than one (1) day per pay period and two (2) days in any single
month.
PTO time may be bought back on accrued time only. Employees cannot
borrow time for buy back purposes.
Employees must complete the Buy Back Section of the Time Off
Request Form and submit it to their Supervisor for approval. Every
attempt will be made to process your request within the next payroll
cycle following approval.
BORROWING PTO
Employees may borrow up to 1 week (5 days) of unaccrued PTO for
time off purposes only and not for buy back purposes, as long as the
employee is able to accrue the borrowed PTO within their employment
year. Borrowing PTO is subject to the Administrator's approval. If an
employee terminates employment prior to accruing the borrowed days, the
Company will deduct the cash value of the borrowed time from the
employee's final paycheck at their rate of pay in effect at the time of
their termination.
PTO ADVANCE
As a convenience to our employees who may have difficulty accessing
their banks during travel on a vacation lasting 5 or more consecutive
days, the Company will advance (pre-pay) up to 5 days of accrued PTO
pay. The employee must give the Payroll Department 2 weeks prior
written notification. Advances are subject to the Administrator's
approval. The Company will not advance unaccrued PTO time.
Unfortunately, for administrative reasons, we are unable to process PTO
advances for employees who use direct deposit for their paycheck.
MAJOR HOLIDAYS
The company recognizes Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas and
New Year's Day as major holidays. These days are hereinafter referred
to as ``Major Holidays''.
Working A Major Holiday
All hourly regular, non-exempt, per diem, pay-in-lieu of benefit,
temporary and new employees (still within their first 90 days of
employment) will be paid ``Holiday Premium Pay'', equal to one-half
(\1/2\) their regular base rate of pay for hours worked on a Major
Holiday in addition to their regular base hourly pay.
Major Holiday Unscheduled Day Off
If an employee works a Major Holiday, but takes an unscheduled day
off the day before or the day after the Major Holiday, they will be
paid their regular hourly rate of pay for hours worked on the Major
Holiday, therefore, losing any Holiday Premium Pay.
If an employee does not work on a Major Holiday and takes an
unscheduled day off the day before or the day after the Major Holiday,
they will not receive PTO pay for the Major Holiday observed unless
approved by the Administrator.
UNSCHEDULED DAYS
Attendance and Tardiness
It is understandable that unexpected circumstances arise which may
make it difficult for an employee to provide appropriate advance notice
to request time off. However, employees are expected to comply with the
Company's Attendance and Tardiness policies detailed in the Company's
Employee Handbook and the Attendance Policy contained within the
Employee Performance Improvement Program.
If more than three (3) incidents of unscheduled time off occur
during a 12-month period, the employee may be subject to disciplinary
action up to, and including, termination of employment.
No Call No Show
If an employee is a no call no show they will not be able to use
PTO time for that day. Additionally, the employee will be subject to
disciplinary measures as outlined in the No Call No Show policy
detailed in the Company's Employee Handbook and in the Attendance
Policy contained within the Employee Performance Improvement Program.
EXTENDED ILLNESS BANK
Employees must use their PTO balance during the Employment Year in
which it accrues. PTO balances do not carry forward to the following
Employment Year. However, the Company will deposit any accrued, unused
PTO days at the end of the Employment Year into the employee's Extended
Illness Bank for use in the event the employee becomes ill or injured
for 5 or more consecutive days. The maximum number of Extended Illness
Bank hours is 120 hours.
Extended Illness Bank days are ineligible for payment upon
termination, unless the employee has been employed for 10 or more
years.
Employees who have been employed with the company for ten (10) or
more years are eligible to be paid for a portion of their Extended
Illness Bank days when they leave the company, as follows:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
% of Extended
Illness Bank
Years of Service Eligible For
Payment
------------------------------------------------------------------------
10-14 Years............................................ 50%
15-19 Years............................................ 75%
20 or More Years....................................... 100%
------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENEFITS UPON TERMINATION
Upon termination of employment, the Company will pay employees for
a portion of their accrued PTO balance based on the ``vacation time''
value of their PTO balance and the employee's position, as follows:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
% of PTO
considered
``Vacation
Position Time'' Upon
Termination
of
Employment
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Administrators and Directors of Nursing Managers/ 35%
Department Heads, and Exempt Level Staff.................
All Other Staff........................................... 25%
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Employees may not take PTO days during their resignation period
unless approved by the facility Administrator. If approved, time off
taken during the resignation period will be deducted from the
employee's PTO balance.
If you have questions regarding this policy, please contact your
Human Resources Representative in the Business Office.
Attachment 2--Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) \1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is the world's
largest association devoted to the human resource profession. Founded
in 1948, SHRM represents 250,000 human resource professionals in
thousands of small and large employers representing every sector of the
U.S. economy.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Principles for a 21st Century Workplace Flexibility Policy
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) believes the
United States must have a 21st century workplace flexibility policy
that meets the needs of both employees and employers. It should enable
employees to balance their work and personal needs while providing
predictability and stability to employers. Most importantly, any policy
must encourage--not discourage--the creation of quality new jobs.
Rather than a one-size-fits-all government approach, where Federal
and State laws often conflict and compliance is determined under
regulatory silos, SHRM advocates a comprehensive workplace flexibility
policy that, for the first time, responds to the diverse needs of
employees and employers and reflects different work environments, union
representation, industries and organizational size.
For a 21st century workplace flexibility policy to be effective,
SHRM believes that all employers should be encouraged to provide paid
leave for illness, vacation and personal days to accommodate the needs
of employees and their family members. In return, employers who choose
to provide paid leave would be considered to have satisfied Federal,
State and local leave requirements. In addition, the policy must meet
the following principles:
Shared Needs--Workplace flexibility policies must meet the needs of
both employees and employers. Rather than an inflexible government-
imposed mandate, policies governing employee leave should be designed
to encourage employers to offer a paid leave program (i.e., illness,
vacation, personal days or a ``paid time off '' bank) that meets
baseline standards to qualify for a statutorily defined ``safe
harbor.'' For example, SHRM envisions a ``safe harbor'' standard where
employers voluntarily provide a specified number of paid leave days for
employees to use for any purpose, consistent with the employer's
policies or collective bargaining agreements. In exchange for providing
paid leave, employers would satisfy current and future Federal, State
and local leave requirements. A Federal policy should:
Provide certainty, predictability and accountability for
employees and employers.
Encourage employers to offer paid leave under a uniform
and coordinated set of rules that would replace and simplify the
confusing--and often conflicting--existing patchwork of regulations.
Create administrative and compliance incentives for
employers who offer paid leave by offering them a safe harbor standard
that would facilitate compliance and save on administrative costs.
Allow for different work environments, union
representation, industries and organizational size.
Permit employers that voluntarily meet safe harbor leave
standards to satisfy Federal, State and local leave requirements.
Employee Leave--Employers should be encouraged voluntarily to
provide paid leave to help employees meet work and personal life
obligations through the safe harbor leave standard. A Federal policy
should:
Encourage employers to offer employees with some level of
paid leave that meets minimum eligibility requirements as allowed under
the employer's safe harbor plan.
Allow the employee to use the leave for illness, vacation,
personal and family needs.
Require employers to create a plan document, made
available to all eligible employees, that fulfills the requirements of
the safe harbor.
Require the employer to attest to the U.S. Department of
Labor that the plan meets the safe harbor requirements.
Flexibility--A Federal workplace leave policy should encourage
maximum flexibility for both employees and employers. A Federal policy
should:
Permit the leave requirement to be satisfied by following
the policies and parameters of an employer plan or collective
bargaining agreement, where applicable, consistent with the safe harbor
provisions.
Provide employers with predictability and stability in
workforce operations.
Provide employees with the predictability and stability
necessary to meet personal needs.
Scalability--A Federal workplace leave policy must avoid a mandated
one-size-fits-all approach and instead recognize that paid leave
offerings should accommodate the increasing diversity in workforce
needs and environments. A Federal policy should:
Allow leave benefits to be scaled to the number of
employees at an organization; the organization's type of operations;
talent and staffing availability; market and competitive forces; and
collective bargaining arrangements.
Provide pro-rated leave benefits to full- and part-time
employees as applicable under the employer plan, which is tailored to
the specific workforce needs and consistent with the safe harbor.
Flexible Work Options--Employees and employers can benefit from a
public policy that meets the diverse needs of the workplace in
supporting and encouraging flexible work options such as telecommuting,
flexible work arrangements, job sharing, and compressed or reduced
schedules. Federal statutes that impede these offerings should be
updated to provide employers and employees with maximum flexibility to
balance work and personal needs. A Federal policy should:
Amend Federal law to allow employees to balance work and
family needs through flexible work options such as telecommuting, flex-
time, part-time, job sharing and compressed or reduced schedules.
Permit employees to choose either earning compensatory
time off for work hours beyond the established workweek, or overtime
wages.
Clarify Federal law to strengthen existing leave statutes
to ensure they work for both employees and employers.
Senator Casey [presiding]. Thank you very much.
We're down to two of us now, Senator Enzi and I. I'm
standing in for Senator Dodd.
Dr. Gottlieb.
STATEMENT OF SCOTT GOTTLIEB, M.D., RESIDENT FELLOW, AMERICAN
ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE, WASHINGTON, DC
Dr. Gottlieb. Thanks a lot. I want to thank the members of
the committee for having me here today.
I also have a longer written statement I'd like to submit
for the record.
This flu has taken a substantial toll on Americans, and I
believe our focus should be on ways we can mitigate these risks
in the future if more Americans can benefit from vaccination
earlier in the course of these kinds of pandemics.
The good news is that we're much better prepared to deal
with this flu than we would have been as recently as 5 years
ago. This owes to steps taken by the current Administration to
start development of an H1N1 vaccine early last spring, and
other steps that they took to make the development processes
easier when the virus first emerged. It also owes, in addition,
to extensive pandemic planning undertaken by the Bush
Administration, which left us with a much better capacity to
deal with this crisis.
There are still gaps in our preparedness, and nagging
vulnerabilities. Too many of our policy choices, with respect
to development of this vaccine, forced us to sacrifice on the
speed and reliability of the vaccine production in order to
assuage concerns about vaccine safety.
With the right tools and investments, going forward, we
should be able to have more effective vaccines and predictable
supply while maintaining our very high degree of safety, and
this should be our focus.
Having an adequate domestic capacity for developing
pandemic vaccines is a matter of national security. European
countries share our regulatory standards and our focus on
safety, but they are far ahead of us in using new and more
reliable technology in their production of new flu vaccines.
One step for improving our readiness for the future is to
better integrate the use of vaccine additives called adjuvants
into our pandemic planning. First, FDA should write formal
guidance on the development of adjuvants as part of pandemic
vaccines.
The United States should also consider stockpiling pre-
approved vaccine preparations that could be used in public
health emergencies. The European strategy of having pandemic
vaccines pre-approved as mockups was a prudent step.
We also need to invest in new manufacturing. Using cell
cultures instead of chicken eggs cuts 3 to 4 weeks from the
time required to mass-produce a vaccine. The biggest advantage
of cell-based manufacturing is its more rapid scale-up and its,
potentially, better predictability.
We also need to make sure that an adequate proportion of
the worldwide influenza vaccine production capacity is
domiciled in the United States. It's hard to envision other
nations allowing limited supply of vaccine raw material to be
shipped outside their borders in the event of a lethal
pandemic. This was already made clear to us, as Senator Dodd
commented on earlier, and this isn't even a truly lethal
pandemic. It's a very serious virus, but it could have been far
worse. Yet, already we saw the Australian government pressure
vaccine-maker CSL to keep its vaccine home, in Australia,
instead of fulfilling its contract for 36 million doses for the
United States. In Canada, where GSK maintains one of its two
flu vaccine production facilities, the other being in Germany,
but the Canadian facility is the one that supplies the U.S.
market, the company had to assure the Canadian government that
the Canadians would be served first from that facility before
the United States could receive its H1N1 orders.
This risk is compounded by the fact that all but one of the
vaccines production facilities we depend on is located outside
the United States. There are also significant limitations in
global fill/finishing capacities, and also there aren't enough
facilities domiciled here in the United States.
There are business impediments to building new facilities.
Production sites require large investments, and the financial
return of flu vaccine is typically small. If the same company
produces flu vaccines at two different facilities, completely
separate clinical trials and separate approvals are required
for each vaccine. This drives developers to expand existing
facilities rather than create new ones. There may be better
ways to enable more cooperation between requirements set forth
by different regulators, or make use of studies that could
bridge between products from a single manufacturer's different
manufacturing lines, to incentivize manufacturers to build
redundant facilities.
Other measures that would help create more domestic
capacity include guaranteed markets for seasonal flu vaccines.
This would create additional incentives for building U.S.
manufacturing capacity, especially if the tender process
favored domestic manufacturers.
In closing, some of our policy choices contributed to the
limited availability of vaccine this season. These trade-offs
can be reduced in the future if we take steps today to increase
our capacity for timely development of safe, effective, and
innovative vaccines in the future.
Thank you very much.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Gottlieb follows:]
Prepared Statement of Scott Gottlieb, M.D.*
INTRODUCTION
Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I wish to thank you for
the invitation to appear before you today to address issues related to
our preparedness for H1N1 flu. While this influenza is, so far, proving
less virulent than once feared, it is still a very dangerous virus.\1\
This is especially true for vulnerable populations such as pregnant
woman,\2\ young children, and those with compromised immune systems or
lung disease.\3\ \4\ H1N1 infections are expected to decline in
November and December 2009 but then peak again with higher mortality
from March to May 2010. In this respect, some experts believe H1N1 may
emulate the 1957 pandemic--
decreasing late this year only to pick up again in the spring.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Dr. Gottlieb is a practicing physician and Resident Fellow at the
American Enterprise Institute. From 2005 to 2007 he served as the
Deputy Commissioner for Medical and Scientific Affairs at the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration. Dr. Gottlieb is partner to a firm that invests
in healthcare companies.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
As we are here today to discuss, this flu has taken a substantial
toll on Americans. It has affected their health but also their
financial security, whether it's through lost wages, missed workdays,
or increased job insecurity during a deep recession. But legislation
creating employment benefits specifically targeted to this flu doesn't
appear to be the right focus for our resources or response. It would be
hard to administer. There also doesn't seem to be a compelling public
policy case for singling out this particular flu from others--many of
which have actually hit the older and working age populations harder in
the past.
Instead, I believe our focus should be on ways we can mitigate
these risks in the future, if more Americans were able to benefit from
vaccination earlier in the course of a pandemic.
The good news is that we were much better prepared to deal with
this flu than we would have been as recently as 5 years ago. This owes
to steps taken by the current Administration to contract for
development of an H1N1 vaccine early last spring, when the virus first
emerged. Collaborative steps to speed vaccine production were
undertaken immediately, even before it was clear a vaccine would be
needed, including work between U.S. Government agencies, international
partners, and drug firms to provide viral reference strains and
reagents needed for vaccine production. These tasks were accomplished
in record time despite technical challenges. In addition, extensive
pandemic planning undertaken by the Bush administration \6\ left us
with much better capacities to deal with this crisis. But there are
still significant gaps in our preparedness, and nagging
vulnerabilities.
Too many of the policy choices we were confronted with in this
crisis forced us to sacrifice on the speed and reliability of vaccine
production in order to assuage concerns about vaccine safety. Vaccine
supplies are increasing, but we still do not have the quantities we
expected, in the time frame that we needed.\7\ Among other things, we
chose to forgo the use of vaccine additives that could \8\ boost
effectiveness and might have helped us stretch our limited supply of
vaccine raw material over more shots. We are compelled to rely on old,
unpredictable manufacturing technology because we haven't developed the
necessary capacities with more modern tools. We also lack domestic
vaccine manufacturing facilities. In at least two cases we know of,
this put the United States behind other countries in getting vaccine
orders filled.
The bottom line is we have relied for too long on outdated capacity
for our flu vaccines, in part because of our cultural reluctance to
embrace new methods. This is not simply a regulatory issue, but
reflects the public mood when it comes to vaccine products.
There are good reasons why the regulation of vaccines is distinct.
Vaccines are given to millions of otherwise healthy people, and
administered over a compressed time period. This is especially true for
flu vaccines. That rapid and widespread administration limits the
ability to uncover ``latent'' risks after products are approved and
marketed. It means that, by the time we intervene to prevent exposure
to an emerging side effect, millions of people might have already
received a seasonal product. This is a unique risk. For these reasons,
a strong pre-market regulatory process is imperative. New vaccine
technology, like any innovation, invariably brings some new
uncertainties--heightening regulatory caution.
For all of these reasons and many others, we are slow to embrace
change to flu vaccine production. But with the right tools and
investments, we should be able to mitigate any reasonable risk. We can
have more effective vaccines, and more predictable and timely supply,
while maintaining our high degree of safety. This should be our focus.
Right now, our decisions to stick with safe and familiar methods
also obligate us to embrace too much uncertainty about product supply.
In the setting of a pandemic, these tradeoffs are simply not
acceptable. While manufacturing problems at the drug firms contributed
to delays in vaccine availability this year, the bottom line is that
the policy choices we made also played a role. The drug makers are easy
targets in our political culture and have recently received the brunt
of official criticism from some public officials. But fault for today's
shortages don't rest with them alone, any more than it rests with the
public health officials overseeing our pandemic response. These are
problems of biology and technology. Still, I worry that too much time
spent finger pointing obscures the mission we should be focused on.
Fixing blame will not improve our readiness. It will not increase our
vaccine supply.
These issues are matters of national security. The fact is that
European countries share our regulatory standards and our focus on
vaccine safety. But they are far ahead of us in using new and more
reliable technology into their production of new flu vaccines. It's
true we remain farther ahead with other vaccine products, such as our
adoption of conjugate vaccines or live attenuated approaches. But when
it comes to pandemic planning, and response to flu, there is more we
need to be doing.
Understanding the tradeoffs made by our policy choices, the gaps in
the technology we use, and the steps we must take to improve future
readiness--these things should be our focus.
use of vaccine additives to improve yield and effectiveness
One step to improving our readiness for the future is to better
integrate the use of vaccine additives called adjuvants into our
pandemic planning.
An adjuvant is a substance incorporated into a vaccine that
enhances or directs the immune response of the vaccinated patient.
Adjuvants are designed to bring the vaccine's antigen into contact with
the immune system and, therefore, enhance the magnitude of immunity
produced as well as the duration of the immune response.
Novartis \9\ and GSK, among other drug firms, have done innovative
work incorporating new generations of adjuvants into vaccines marketed
in Europe this fall for H1N1. A lot of the recent activity in Europe to
deploy adjuvants was based on ``mock up'' preparations of pandemic
vaccines that those nations had been pre-
approved and stockpiled.
In the United States, our decision to forgo use of adjuvants, that
can work to increase the protective effects of a given quantity of
vaccine, limited our ability to stretch our already limited stock of
H1N1 vaccine raw material (the vaccine antigen).\10\ It is worth noting
that no country has had earlier large supplies of vaccine, including in
Europe. The three countries first out with substantial vaccine (the
United States, Australia and China) all used non-adjuvanted egg-based
vaccines. So the capacity issues, and challenges are a global problem.
But to improve for the future, we need to be better prepared to embrace
these new methods.
In 2008, GSK became the first company to obtain a European license
for an adjuvanted prepandemic vaccine, Prepandrix. This vaccine is
designed to raise immune protection against several strains of the H5N1
(Avian) flu virus.\11\ GSK also recently became the first drug
manufacturer to get U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval
for a modern adjuvant that is used in conjunction with a vaccine
distributed domestically. That vaccine, Cervarix is administered to
prevent cervical cancer and precancerous lesions caused by human
papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 and 18. Cervarix contains the adjuvant
ASO4, which is a combination of aluminum hydroxide \12\ and
monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL).\13\ It is the first vaccine licensed by
the FDA that includes MPL as an adjuvant. ASO4 is a close cousin of the
adjuvants that are already in wide use in Europe, and shares some
similarities \14\ to adjuvants included in some of the versions of H1N1
vaccine being used around the world.
There is no adjuvant approved for use in a flu preparation in the
United States and no adjuvanted H1N1 vaccine available in this country.
Integrating an adjuvant into the United States. H1N1 vaccine would not
have been as easy as borrowing the data used by Europe.
For one thing, the European approvals for pandemic vaccines, and
most of the clinical data that were reviewed by the European Medicines
Agency (EMEA) to support them, are not with the identical vaccine
antigens or from same facilities from which the United States H5N1
vaccines are manufactured. There are differences that potentially can
occur when different antigens are mixed with different adjuvants. So
it's not a sure bet that the antigen available for the U.S. vaccine
could be effectively used in conjunction with the same adjuvants being
used in the European vaccines. The safety profile of vaccines can also
be affected by minor changes in how a protein is presented.
Nonetheless, there is good reason to believe that for most patients,
these adjuvants (one is already used in a U.S. stockpiled vaccine that
targets pandemic avian flu) \15\ could boost our present supply of a
H1N1 vaccine as much as fourfold,\16\ or even more when an adjuvant is
used in a vaccine for children.\17\ \18\
U.S. public health authorities laid some groundwork toward the use
of adjuvants in the event that the H1N1 vaccine proved to be
ineffective in the absence of these components. It was with the strong
urging of the FDA that studies by vaccine manufacturers and National
Institutes of Health (NIH) included both adjuvanted and non-adjuvanted
formulations of H1N1 vaccine. The Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) also purchased and filled and finished a large stockpile
of adjuvant in case it was needed.
In addition, U.S. public health authorities asked for data that
could inform the effects of adjuvants and whether they would be
beneficial and needed for H1N1 vaccine. The studies that regulators
around the world relied on to evaluate the immunogenicity of both non-
adjuvanted and adjuvanted vaccines are largely the result of requests
for this data by FDA. The United States worked to keep an adjuvant
option ``on the table'' were it to be needed.
Despite the foundational work done by FDA and others, the United
States might not have been prepared to license an adjuvanted H1N1
vaccine through our customary regulatory process should it have been
necessary. In all likelihood, if we had to incorporate adjuvant this
fall, we would have been forced to make an adjuvanted H1N1 vaccine
available under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA),\19\ which is an
authority that authorizes use of a product for treatment or prevention
of well-defined, public health emergencies when the relevant product
has not already been approved for this specific use by the FDA.\20\ A
vaccine supplied through such an expedited authorization would have
surely raised public concerns about its safety, perhaps reducing
vaccination rates and offsetting any public health gains achieved by
the use of the adjuvant. As a result, while the option of using an
adjuvant was kept on the table, it was set on the very edge of the
table.
Ultimately, the U.S. decision to not employ adjuvants was based on
clinical data that showed an excellent response to standard doses of
the licensed vaccines in the absence of any adjuvants. But that meant
that the H1N1 vaccine required much higher quantities of vaccine raw
material (antigen) than would have been required if adjuvants had been
incorporated.\21\ \22\ While the amount of antigen in the U.S. H1N1
vaccine is equivalent to the quantity used in the seasonal flu vaccine
distributed around the world each year, in this case, we had very
limited quantities of H1N1 antigen. Stretching supply was imperative.
In the United States, we were compelled to spread a limited supply of
vaccine antigen across fewer shots than Europeans.
In a future pandemic, we may not have this same opportunity. Even
today, the decision to forgo the use of adjuvant has to be considered
as one of the tradeoffs contributing to our current H1N1 vaccine
shortage. This kind of tradeoff doesn't need to exist in the
future.\23\
What measures can be taken to improve our process for evaluating
vaccine adjuvants? First, FDA should consider creating formal guidance
on the development and use of adjuvants to help guide product
developers. The EMEA developed formal guidance on adjuvants 3 years
ago. The document is available on that agency's Web site.\24\ FDA
doesn't have a similar guidance document, and while it hasn't indicated
it plans to write one, the FDA held a meeting on the topic in December
2008. Its workshop could serve as a prelude to the development of
formal guidance-writing process.
The United States should also consider stockpiling pre-approved
vaccine preparations that could be used in a public health emergency.
There is now ample experience in Europe on which we can draw.\25\
Adjuvants are not approved as stand alone substances because they do
not always perform the same with different vaccines or types of
vaccines or, at times, even with different versions of the same
antigen.\26\ Nonetheless, the European strategy of having pandemic
vaccines pre-approved, as mock-ups, was a prudent step.
UPGRADING OUR MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY
Seasonal flu vaccines and the H1N1 vaccine are still made by the
same process that has been used for 50 years: they are grown inside
chicken eggs.\27\ This process is unpredictable, slow, and difficult to
scale. It is also expensive, costing more than $300 million to build a
new plant and requiring more than 5 years to bring an egg-based
production facility online.
Here is how the egg-based process works: Flu, as with any virus,
will grow only in living cells. In the case of flu vaccine, production
of the vaccine components has used the cells of embryonated
(fertilized) hens' eggs. The success of this system is primarily
dependent upon the availability of adequate flocks of chickens. These
flocks must be hatched about 6 months in advance to achieve maturity at
the time that the eggs are needed. A bipartisan investment that helped
improve our readiness was support of year-round flocks. Nonetheless
this egg-based process requires long lead times and has other risks.
The flocks, for example, are susceptible to their own diseases.\28\
Another challenge of the egg-based process is virus yield. This refers
to the number of viral particles that come out of an egg that could be
used to make the vaccine. As a rule of thumb, one to three eggs are
needed to produce each individual shot of the seasonal flu vaccine.
Eggs are typically low-yield factories for the production of vaccine
components.
This was certainly true this year. The H1N1 virus that was adapted
by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for growing inside the chicken
eggs, and sent to the manufacturers as the ``seed'' stock \29\ (for
jumpstarting manufacturing lines) was slow in being shipped to the drug
firms owing to the difficulty in developing this template strain. Once
it arrived, it was not well-suited to the production lines, and yielded
low quantities of vaccine antigen.\30\ \31\ Manufacturers spent several
weeks before they realized this seed stock was yielding low vaccine
quantities. It took still more weeks for the drug firms to re-engineer
the seed stock to come up with a more effective template for growing
vaccine antigen in the chicken eggs.\32\ \33\ This experience
underscores the unpredictable qualities of our present flu vaccine
manufacturing process, and how vulnerable we are as a result of our
dependence on it.
Because of the uncertainties and delays inherent to this production
process--and because the emergence of pandemic strains of influenza
virus may occur outside the normal timeframe for vaccine production
(when chicken flocks are not at peak availability) we need alternative
production systems for flu vaccine. The principal alternative to the
egg-based process is tissue culture cell lines that can be used as
incubators for viral replication.\34\
Using cell cultures instead of chicken eggs cuts 3 to 4 weeks from
the time required to mass-produce a vaccine. But the biggest advantage
of cell-based manufacturing is its more rapid scale-up and is
potentially better predictability. These attributes are typically more
variable using older egg-based processes. Moreover, the use of hundreds
of thousands of eggs can be a more dirty process, making it prone to
production glitches.\35\
There are many approved cell culture vaccines made in the United
States--this includes most of our viral vaccines such as Measles, Mumps
and Rubella (MMR) as well as vaccines for polio and Zoster, among
others. An issue for flu vaccines has been getting good yield and a
good clinical response using cell cultures. Only in recent years has
there been real progress on these steps. As a result, the United States
has recently begun to scale up work on cell-based manufacturing for
influenza vaccines. More needs to be done. Our current vulnerabilities
are too significant to be satisfied with merely incremental progress.
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA)
awarded one Federal contract for $487 million last spring to Novartis
for the construction of the first U.S. facility to manufacture cell-
based flu vaccine.\36\ That facility is scheduled to open this year,
but it won't be producing licensed vaccine until 2014.\37\ \38\ GSK and
Sanofi-Aventis are also working on cell-based production of influenza
vaccine.\39\ Baxter recently became the first company to gain marketing
authorization by the European Commission for a cell-based vaccine.\40\
That cell-based vaccine product is not available in the United
States.\41\
Cell-based vaccine production is not without its own obstacles, and
risks. In addition to issues around getting adequate yields from cell-
based production processes, there are also challenges with
immunogenicity \42\ and reactogenicity.\43\ All of these problems have
come up in past attempts to scale cell-based production processes.
There is also a remote and theoretical safety concern around the
ability of genetic material to jump from the cell lines, into the
vaccine, and then integrate into human tissues. FDA has issued a
guidance to provide a pathway for safe use of novel cell substrates
that tries to address the proper testing that flu vaccine manufacturers
should undertake in order to rule out these risks.
Given the strategic advantages of the cell-based process, we need
to invest in developing this capacity more quickly. BARDA should
support development of similar facilities to the one being constructed
in North Carolina. A typical cell-based facility costs as much as $600
million and would only be able to produce about 40 million doses of
seasonal ``trivalent'' flu vaccine a year. The Novartis facility will
be able to produce around 150 million doses of ``monovalent'' vaccine--
containing just one viral strain, as opposed to the seasonal flu
vaccine, which contains three different viral strains--in the event of
a pandemic.
All of this illustrates the more challenging economics of vaccine
production, for which significant upfront expenditures are required to
build facilities capable of producing largely fixed capacities of
vaccine. So long as seasonal flu vaccines remain commoditized products,
with slim margins and little product differentiation (public health
agencies want vaccines coming from different manufacturers to be
largely interchangeable) then there will not be large enough private
profits to support substantial new investments in manufacturing
infrastructure. Getting additional facilities on-line will require
Federal investment. This capacity, however, is a matter of national
strategic security and should be a U.S. priority.\44\ \45\
ENSURING DOMESTIC PRODUCTION CAPABILITIES
We also need to make sure that an adequate proportion of the
worldwide influenza vaccine production capacity is domiciled in the
United States--enough to adequately supply a reasonable portion of the
U.S. market in the event of a pandemic.
It is hard to envision other nations allowing limited supply of
vaccine raw material to be shipped outside their borders in the event
of a full-blown pandemic with a very dangerous flu. More likely,
nations would take steps to nationalize their domestic production
capacity.
The drawback to relying on foreign plants was made clear recently
when foreign countries claimed priority for the H1N1 vaccine produced
in their own countries. That was the case in Australia, where the
government pressured vaccine manufacturer CSL to keep its vaccine at
home instead of fulfilling its contract for 36 million doses of swine
flu vaccine for the United States.\46\ \47\ \48\ In Canada, where GSK
maintains one of its two flu vaccine production facilities, the company
had to assure the Canadian government that the Canadian population
would be served first from that facility before any other countries
that rely on that manufacturing site--including the United States--
received fulfillment of their H1N1 vaccine orders.\49\
This risk is compounded by the fact that all but one of the vaccine
production facilities we depend on is located outside the United
States.\50\ There are five companies licensed to sell seasonal flu
vaccine in the United States. But only one, Sanofi-Pasteur, has a
domestically located plant. The others--GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, CSL
Ltd. and MedImmune--use plants in England, Germany and Australia.
After the U.S. firm MedImmune was acquired by AstraZeneca,
additional production capacity was located in Cambridge, UK in 2008.
Novartis, based in Switzerland, operates a cell-culture vaccine
production facility in Marburg, Germany. The cell culture facility
maintained by Baxter for production of flu vaccine is located in the
Czech Republic.
There also appears to be significant limitations in global fill and
finishing capacities for flu vaccine. This also limits supply. In
addition, concerns about trace amounts of the mercury-containing
vaccine preservative thimerosol, found in multi-dose vials of flu
vaccine, prompted public health officials to request drug firms
manufacture more single-dose syringes. This took longer and added
delays to vaccine availability.
There are lingering concerns that thimerosol is linked to autism,
despite well-conducted studies that show that the vaccine preservative
is safe. If we are going to let these kinds of theoretical fears drive
decisions about how vaccines are packaged, then we ought to invest in
better finishing capacity or safe and effective preservatives that wont
so easily fall prey to theoretical risk. Ideally, we also need more of
the companies that produce flu vaccines to locate new filling and
finishing facilities in the United States.
There are business impediments to building new facilities--these
production sites require substantial investments and the financial
return on flu vaccine, in particular, is small. Flu vaccines generate
modest margins relative to other vaccines and drug products.
One of the additional business impediments companies face in making
investments in multiple, differently situated vaccine production
facilities stems from how these facilities are regulated. The vaccine
produced from each facility needs to be separately licensed by both the
FDA and the EMEA. That means that if the same company produces flu
vaccine at two different facilities (even in cases where it uses the
same processes at each facility) the company often has to conduct
separate clinical trials for each vaccine. While FDA has approved
vaccines where little or no United States-specific data was available,
there remain many situations where redundant trials were required or
European data was not fully leveraged.
This drives developers to expand existing facilities rather than
create new ones. Since the clinical trials require substantial
investments of time and money, it is far more economical to maintain a
few very large vaccine production facilities. After all, each
facility's vaccine will be treated as a completely new product with its
own expensive clinical trials. There are good scientific reasons why
biologicals coming from distinct facilities are treated independently
by drug regulators. But there may be better ways to enable more
cooperation between requirements set forth by different regulators or
make use of studies that could bridge between products from a single
manufacturer's different manufacturing lines.
The ability to conduct these kinds of bridging studies, if they
could streamline the requirements for entirely separate clinical
trials, could save time and money. It would also reduce the economic
impediments firms face to creating redundant manufacturing capacity.
Other measures that would help create more domestic capacity
include guaranteed markets for seasonal flu vaccines. This would create
additional incentives for building U.S. manufacturing capacity,
especially if the tender process favored domestic manufacturers.
OTHER AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT
We also need to develop new types of vaccines. BARDA has made
grants available to fund research into completely new platforms for
vaccinating against flu. Just this past June, BARDA awarded a research
and development contract for work on a recombinant flu vaccine. We are
making incremental but meaningful progress. We should be undertaking a
more robust process to put substantial resources behind these
scientific efforts.
The complexity of developing a vaccine against pandemic flu is
similar to the problems posed by development of the seasonal flu shots.
The vaccine needs to be adapted to match each specific strain of the
flu virus. In the case of the seasonal flu, we have to develop a new
vaccine each year to guard against that season's circulating strains of
influenza.
It also means that we depend on just-in-time delivery when it comes
to flu vaccine. This owes to the fact that the vaccine targets proteins
on the surface of the flu virus that itself undergo easy mutation.
Since these proteins change easily, a new vaccine must be developed to
target the unique proteins found on each particular strain of
influenza.
Better technologies can enable development of vaccines that require
much shorter development timelines, or that protect against a broader
range of flu strains.
On the first point, for example, Virus Like Particles (VLPs) have
been suggested as a promising platform for new viral vaccines. In the
light of a pandemic threat, VLPs have been recently developed as a new
generation of non-egg-based cell culture-derived vaccine candidates
against influenza infection.\51\
Influenza VLPs are formed by a self-assembly process incorporating
structural proteins of the flu virus.\52\ These particles resemble the
virus from which they were derived but lack viral nucleic acid, meaning
that they are not infectious. VLPs used as vaccines are often very
effective at eliciting both T cell and B cell immune responses. The
human papillomavirus and Hepatitis B vaccines are the first VLP-based
vaccines approved by the FDA.
Research suggests that VLP vaccines could provide stronger and
longer lasting protection against flu viruses than conventional
vaccines.\53\ Production may begin as soon as the genetic sequence of
the virus is published online, without an actual sample of the agent,
and it may take as little as 12 weeks, compared to 9 months for
traditional vaccines.\54\ The VLP may be grown in either plants or
insect cells. As it contains no genetic material, some ingredients of
traditional vaccines such as formalin and detergent treatments, are not
needed.\55\ In some recent clinical trials, VLP vaccines appeared to
provide complete protection against both the H5N1 avian influenza virus
and the 1918 Spanish influenza virus.
There is also opportunity to create a vaccine that protects against
a broader variety of influenza strains, reducing the need to tailor a
new vaccine to each individual strain of circulating flu. A universal
vaccine would target more ``conserved'' regions of the flu virus's
structural proteins--parts of the flu virus architecture that do not
undergo much mutation and, therefore, are unlikely to change,
regardless of the particular strain of flu.
Right now, our vaccines target proteins that are on the outer
surface of the flu virus. Since our immune systems attack these
proteins, the proteins themselves undergo adaptation, mutation, and
change in order to evade our immune response. But structural proteins
that are core components of the architecture of all flu viruses would
be less likely to undergo mutation, regardless of the pressure from
nature to change in order to survive.
Theoretically, to target these core proteins, a universal vaccine
would need to recruit our T cells to attack the flu virus, as opposed
to today's vaccines, which recruit an antibody response. For that
reason, some suggest that such a ``universal'' vaccine would more
likely be a therapeutic tool, as opposed to a protective vaccine. There
is some literature to suggest that a T cell response alone may not be
sufficient to protect us fully from flu, but work continues, and a
universal vaccine is at least possible.
Drug firms sometimes complain that there is a disconnect between
the advice and goals of different government agencies, especially
between those charged with trying to develop new technologies (BARDA)
and those charged with ensuring their safety (FDA).
It remains important for FDA to preserve its distinct mission to
assure product safety and effectiveness and for the agency to remain
independent. But when it comes to areas of critical public health need,
where the government is engaged in a substantial effort to fund
development of new technology, there's more we can do. FDA meets early
with academic and industry developers of novel technologies especially
for critical public health needs like flu and terrorism. But there may
be more opportunities to create clearer pathways to market by also
engaging FDA more closely in the government procurement process.
One opportunity is to couple BARDA funding of new technology with
regulatory programs that provide additional, early feedback to sponsors
developing those new methods. Multiple studies have shown that early
and frequent FDA feedback helps sponsors avoid mistakes and results in
timelier access to safe and effective products. This kind of regulatory
effort is time and labor intensive, however, and would need to be
funded inside FDA.
Finally, we also need to spend time examining how limited vaccine
has been distributed during this pandemic, and take steps to put in
place a better process for the future. My own view is that we should
have relied more on the clinical community as a way to target the
vaccine to high risk Americans. Doctors who treat high-risk patient
populations--for example obstetricians that see pregnant women or
pulmonologists who treat people with lung disease--in many cases had no
access to the vaccine in many States. To target these populations of
patients, we need to work through, and target, the doctors that care
for them.
CONCLUSION
The Obama team deserves credit for ordering vaccines early last
spring when H1N1 first emerged and for acting quickly to support their
development. It wasn't clear, at that moment, whether H1N1 would emerge
as a pandemic or fade into the summer and fail to re-emerge in the
fall. The Administration's decision to undertake a crash effort to
field vaccine saved lives.\56\ Moreover, many of the shortcomings in
our current preparedness are not the product of policy choices, but are
challenges that relate to biology and the inherent complexity of
targeting viruses that change rapidly and frequently. The fact that the
United States has quickly fielded a program with high quality licensed
vaccines despite the old technology and processes we relied on is a
substantial public health accomplishment.
This shouldn't, however, obscure the fact that at many points we
made deliberate decisions to rely on those old methods rather than
adapt new ones because of our concerns about safety and our comfort
with the tried and true approaches. Some of our policy choices did have
consequences, and contributed to the limited availability of vaccine.
These tradeoffs can be reduced in the future if we make a concerted
effort today to increase our capacity for timely development of safe,
effective and innovative vaccines.
References
1. A Kumar, R Zarychanski, R Pinto, DJ Cook, et al., for the
Canadian Critical Care Trials Group H1N1 Collaborative. Critically Ill
Patients With 2009 Influenza A(H1N1) Infection in Canada. Journal of
the American Medical Association 2009;302(17):1872-1879. Published
online October 12, 2009 (doi:10.1001/jama.2009.1496)
2. Pregnant women are among the groups of people who have been hit
particularly hard by the swine flu, and officials recommend they be
vaccinated. Since the H1N1 virus was first discovered in April, more
than 100 pregnant women have been hospitalized and 28 have died,
according to the most recent government figures.
3. JK Louie, M Acosta, K Winter, C Jean, et al., for the California
Pandemic (H1N1) Working Group. Factors Associated With Death or
Hospitalization Due to Pandemic 2009 Influenza A(H1N1) Infection in
California. Journal of the American Medical Association
2009;302(17):1896-1902
4. In contrast to seasonal influenza, elderly persons have proven
less likely to contract the virus; nevertheless, many elderly persons
who do contract the virus have had serious complications.
5. Dr. Paul Auwaerter, clinical director of the division of
infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins University, noted that most or all
of the H1N1 vaccine doses will be delivered by early December. He added
that H1N1 infections will likely decline in November and December 2009
but then peak again with higher mortality between March to May 2010.
Redd added that the infections may decrease by late this year and pick
up again in the spring, similar to the 1957 pandemic.
6. Under the HHS Pandemic Influenza Plan (November 2005), the
Department's key goals for vaccine preparedness were: Stockpile enough
pre-pandemic influenza vaccines to cover 20 million persons in the
critical workforce; Develop sufficient domestic manufacturing capacity
to produce pandemic vaccine for the entire U.S. population of 300
million persons within 6 months of pandemic onset.
7. J Norman. H1N1 Flu Vaccine Supply Expected to Increase Soon.
Congressional Quarterly Healthbeat, November 6, 2009.
8. It is not clear from past or current data, including with H1N1,
whether clinical effectiveness of vaccine will be increased by
adjuvants, although it is clear our supply could have been stretched by
incorporating these additives, making a smaller quantity of vaccine as
effective as a larger dose. The human immunogenicity data for the H1N1
vaccine do not show a difference so far in the antibody response to the
vaccine for the majority of the populations studied. Inclusion of an
adjuvant may be most substantive in truly immunologically naive
situations, for example with H5N1, or in young children, where there is
no pre-existing immunologic memory. This is still a potentially
important contribution.
9. John Carroll, ``Novartis Readies Key Adjuvant for Swine Flu
Use,'' Reuters, April 30, 2009.
10. The antigens are basically components of the virus that have
lost their property to infect people but remain similar to wild-type
virus. When injected as part of a vaccine, they stimulate our immune
systems to develop antibodies that will target the natural, ``wild-
type'' virus.
11. I. Leroux-Roels et al., ``Antigen Sparing and Cross-Reactive
Immunity with an Adjuvanted rH5N1 Prototype Pandemic Influenza Vaccine:
A Randomised Controlled Trial,'' The Lancet 370, no. 9,587 (August 18,
2007): 580-89.
12. Gupta RK. Aluminum compounds as vaccine adjuvants. Adv Drug
Deliv Rev. 1998 Jul 6;32(3):155-172.
13. FDA News Release. FDA Approves New Vaccine for Prevention of
Cervical Cancer, October 16, 2009. Available at http://www.fda.gov/
NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm187048.htm.
14. MPL works differently than oil in water, another adjuvant,
although the two do have in common novelty.
15. Steve Usdin and Erin McCallister, ``Opportunity in Crisis.''
16. For example, an adjuvanted H1N1 vaccine being used in Europe
contains 3.75 micrograms of vaccine stock. The same vaccine in the
United States, without the adjuvant, requires 15 micrograms of vaccine
for equal potency.
17. Data shows the adjuvanted vaccine produced by GlaxoSmithKline
can produce close to 100% protection in children with 1.9 microgram of
vaccine antigen whereas 15 micrograms are required for the U.S.
licensed vaccine that doesn't contain adjuvant.
18. We may see a pattern where the effects of adjuvants may not be
as profound when there is some background immunologic memory in the
population. But data are either not readily available or are pending,
many of the studies do not examine lower levels of non-adjuvanted
vaccines. In some, lower levels of non-adjuvanted may also turn out to
be immunogenic in some select populations.
19. The Project BioShield Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-276), among
other provisions, established the comprehensive EUA program. EUA
permits the FDA to approve the emergency use of drugs, devices, and
medical products (including diagnostics) that were not previously
approved, cleared, or licensed by FDA or the off-label use of approved
products in certain well-defined emergency situations. Issuance of an
EUA is predicated on a Declaration of Emergency that justifies the
authorization of the EUA by the Secretary of HHS. Following the HHS
Secretary's Declaration, the FDA commissioner may issue an EUA if he or
she concludes that: (1) the agent listed in the emergency declaration
can cause a serious or life-threatening disease or condition; (2) on
the basis of the totality of scientific evidence available, it's
reasonable to believe that the medical product may be effective in
diagnosing, treating or preventing this disease or condition or a
serious or life-threatening disease or condition caused by another EUA-
authorized product or an otherwise approved or licensed product; (3)
the known and potential benefits of the medical product outweigh the
risks, both known and potential; and (4) no adequate, approved,
alternative medical product is available.
20. SL Nightingale, JM Prasher, and S Simonson. Policy Review:
Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to Enable Use of Needed Products in
Civilian and Military Emergencies, United States, Emergency Infectious
Diseases. Volume 13, Number 7. July 2007.
21. FC Zhu, H Wang, HH Fang, JG Yang, et al. A Novel Influenza A
(H1N1) Vaccine in Various Age Groups. Published at www.nejm.org,
October 21, 2009 (10.1056/NEJMoa0908535). Available at http://
content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/NEJMoa0908535v1.
22. ME Greenberg, MH Lai, GF Hartel, CH Wichems, et al. Response
after One Dose of a Monovalent Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Vaccine--
Preliminary Report. Published at www.nejm.org, September 10, 2009
(10.1056/NEJMoa0907413). Available at: http://content.nejm.org/cgi/
content/full/NEJMoa0907413.
23. It's important to note that it isn't clear how much of the U.S.
reluctance to embrace adjuvants is a function of our caution, and how
much is a function of sponsors. More likely, it's an element of both.
One reason Novartis' older adjuvanted vaccine hasn't been approved in
the United States is that they acquired it from Chiron, which wasn't
able to implement a formal U.S. regulatory or commercial strategy. The
adjuvanted vaccine was approved in Italy in 1997, although only for the
elderly and using antigen from a specific EU facility. Apportioning
blame between FDA and the drug firms would be clearer if Novartis or
GSK had filed an application to license an adjuvanted vaccine in the
United States and FDA had rejected it, but they haven't. It's hard to
know if this is because FDA has discouraged it or for other reasons.
But none of these facts change the steps we should be focused on.
24. Available at www.emea.europa.eu/pdfs/human/vwp/13471604en.pdf.
25. See European Medicines Agency, ``Guideline on Adjuvants in
Vaccines for Human Use,'' EMEA/CHMP/VEG/.
26. As one example, aluminum compounds--which are the only
adjuvants used widely with routine human vaccines and are the most
common adjuvants in veterinary vaccines--do not work with influenza
vaccine.
27. C Gerdil, ``The Annual Production Cycle for Influenza
Vaccine,'' Vaccine 21, no. 16 (May 1, 2003): 1,776-79.
28. DJ Alexander, ``A Review of Avian Influenza in Different Bird
Species,'' Veterinary Microbiology 74, nos. 1-2 (May 22, 2000): 3-13.
29. N. Bardiya and J.H. Bae, ``Influenza Vaccines: Recent Advances
in Production Technologies,'' Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology
67, no. 3 (May 2005): 299-305.
30. Virus yield is increased substantially by using strains of the
virus that are specially tweaked to make them produce more viral
particles and survive better in the eggs. That is because the ``wild-
type'' viruses that are isolated from patients do not grow well in the
eggs that are used for their manufacture. Therefore, the wild-type
viruses need to be altered or re-assorted to grow well in eggs while
still retaining the ability to make the viral antigens that are needed
for an effective vaccine. But this process of making re-assortant
strains takes time. At present, there are not many labs that are
capable of working on developing these re-assortants.
31. Both CDC and FDA used the state-of-the-art technology, called
reverse genetics, as their method to create pandemic H1N1 reference
viruses, which were provided to manufactures to develop their own seed
viruses for vaccine production
32. B McKay, C Simpson and J Whalen. Obama Targets Swine-Flu
Response. The Wall Street Journal, October 26, 2009. A1
33. J Burns. Health Officials Frustrated by H1N1 Vaccine Shortage.
The Wall Street Journal, November 4, 2009. B1
34. M.G. Pau et al., ``The Human Cell Line PER.C6 Provides a New
Manufacturing System for the Production of Influenza Vaccines,''
Vaccine 19, nos. 17-19 (March 21, 2001): 2,716-21.
35. Steve Usdin and Erin McCallister, ``Opportunity in Crisis,''
BioCentury, May 4, 2009.
36. Dr. Bruce Gellin, director of the HHS National Vaccine Program,
recently noted publicly that other Federal collaborations with private
companies for expedited development of new vaccine technologies are
also underway, although he has not cited the names of other companies.
37. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, ``HHS Awards $487
Million Contract to Build First U.S. Manufacturing Facility for Cell-
Based Influenza Vaccine,'' news release, January 15, 2009, available at
www.hhs.gov/news/press/2009pres/01/20090115d.html (accessed May 6,
2009).
38. It's also worth noting that the North Carolina Novartis plant
will also produce an adjuvant, MF59.
39. 21. Bruce Japsen, ``Flu Vaccines No Easy Remedy: Low Sales Mean
Lack of Incentive for Drugmakers,'' Chicago Tribune, April 29, 2009.
40. Baxter's Celvapan H1N1 pandemic vaccine using Baxter's Vero
cell technology. Celvapan H1N1 is the first cell culture-based and non-
adjuvanted pandemic influenza vaccine to receive marketing
authorization.
41. Baxter Receives European Commission Approval for CELVAPAN H1N1
Pandemic Influenza Vaccine, October 07, 2009. http://www.baxter.com/
about_baxter/press_room/press_releases/2009/10_07_09-celvapan.html.
Press Release.
42. Immunogenicity is the ability of a particular substance, such
as an antigen or epitope, to provoke an immune response.
43. Refers to the ability of some biologics to cause unwanted
immunological reactions.
44. The margins made on flu vaccines are also narrow by drug-
industry comparisons. Flu vaccine doses cost about $3 each to
manufacture, according to industry insiders. This does not include the
depreciated costs of the capital needed to invest in manufacturing
facilities. Each vaccine ultimately sells for $10-12 for each dose. The
fixed costs related to quality assurance, administration, and
depreciation are estimated to account for 60 percent of total
production costs.
45. ``After Decades of Malaise, the Vaccine Industry Is Getting an
Injection,'' Knowledge@Wharton, November 2, 2005, available at http://
knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1306 (accessed Nov 4,
2009).
46. J Norman. H1N1 Vaccine Delayed for Priority Groups Until
January. CQ Healthbeat. November 4, 2009.
47. One CSL Biotherapies' vaccine manufacturing facility (which it
shares with CSL Behring) is located in King of Prussia, PA. It has been
supplying vaccine in the United States since the 2007-2008 flu season.
Its parent company, CSL Limited, is located in Melbourne, Australia. On
August 18, 2009 FDA licensed CSL's new vaccine filling and packaging
facility, located in Kankakee, IL. CSL Biotherapies may use it to fill
and package H1N1 vaccine if requested to do so by HHS. CSL
Biotherapies' contract for bulk antigen with HHS is $180 million.
48. DG McNeil. Nation Is Facing Vaccine Shortage for Seasonal Flu.
New York Times, November 4, 2009. A1
49. GSK maintains two flu vaccine production sites, in Germany and
the other in Canada. The German facility is licensed to supply vaccine
to Europe while the Canadian facility supplies other countries,
including the United States.
50. That domestic facility, operated by Sanofi, was supported by
grants from HHS/BARDA that significantly increased its capacity. FDA
licensed an additional production line this May at that facility. See
http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/
ucm149577.html.
51. SM Kang, JM Song, FS Quan, RW Compans RW. Influenza vaccines
based on virus-like particles. Virus Res. 2009 Aug; 143(2):140-6.
Electronic publication 2009 Apr 15.
52. They are assembled into budding particles composed of the
hemagglutinin (HA), neuraminidase (NA) and M1 proteins, and may include
additional influenza proteins such as M2.
53. TP Luo, Z Yang, M Gao, Z Pan. Virus-like particle vaccine
comprised of the HA, NA, and M1 proteins of an avian isolated H5N1
influenza virus induces protective immunity against homologous and
heterologous strains in mice. Viral Immunology 2009 July;22(4):273-81.
54. New Vaccine Strategy Might Offer Protection Against Pandemic
Influenza Strains. American Society for Microbiology. 5-18-2009. http:/
/gm.asm.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=217&Itemid=1.
55. Dobbs, David (October 22, 2009). ``Delivering a Virus Imposter
Quicker.'' Technology Review. http://www.technologyreview.com/
biomedicine/23782/.
56. S. Gottlieb. Why You Can't Get the Swine Flu Vaccine. The Wall
Street Journal, October 28, 2009. A22.
Senator Casey. Thank you very much.
I wanted to, first of all, thank each of our witnesses for
appearing today and for your testimony and for the work you're
doing on these issues.
I'll be rather brief, and I know that our Ranking Member,
Senator Enzi, might have questions, as well.
First of all, I wanted to just say, we're happy everyone's
here. Ms. Rosado, we're especially grateful that you're here,
in light of what you've been through the last couple of weeks
in your own family. I was noting, each of your children that
you mention in your testimony--Isabella, Alicia, and David--
should be very proud of the testimony you gave. I know it's not
something every parent likes to do, which is to catalog the
sickness that has run through your home, and the consequences
for your family, but we're grateful that you brought your own
story to Washington. I know it's not easy to get all the way
down here. We won't ask you about the travel.
At the risk of starting a big argument here--I don't want
to do that--but, some constructive debate and dialogue is
important. I guess I wanted to start with Debra Ness, in terms
of what you heard from Ms. O'Brien. And if you could provide,
if you want to, some rebuttal. There's somewhat of a conflict
here between your testimony and hers, in terms of what we
should be doing, and I want to give you that opportunity, and
then, Ms. O'Brien, you certainly can provide your own rebuttal.
Just with regard to the legislation. I'm a cosponsor of this. I
obviously support it very strongly. We also want to hear the
competing arguments.
Ms. Ness. Well, I want to start by saying that we would
welcome the opportunity to work with all of you, members of
this panel and this subcommittee, to ensure that this is, at
the end of the day, legislation that works for both employers
and employees. I wish we lived in a world where we all did the
right thing all the time. The bottom line is that today there
are at least 100 million workers in this country who wouldn't
be able to take a paid sick day to stay home with a sick child.
There are many workers--and we heard the stats over and over
again today--three-quarters of low-wage workers--we're talking
about workers in food service, workers in public
accommodations, nursing-home workers, school workers, etc.--
they don't have a lot of flexibility. They don't have much
opportunity to innovate. When they need to take the time to
take care of themselves or their family, they need the
protection of basic labor standard that would allow for them to
do that without losing their pay or part of their paycheck or
putting their job on the line. And today, that's what happens
for millions of workers in this country.
It would be terrific to work to fashion this legislation in
a way that works for both. We do believe that the Healthy
Families Act is actually good for the bottom line, that it
would actually help employers. All the research shows that it
actually makes more sense to give workers the time that they
need to get better, as opposed to having them come to work
sick, and particularly for those workers who interface with the
public or who take care of our elderly or our children; even
more important that we give them the time to be home when
they're sick, or take care of their kids.
I think while we're all for flexibility and innovation, we
need a basic standard to ensure that, at a minimum, when
somebody is sick, when a worker is sick, they can take care of
themselves or take care of their family member.
Senator Casey. Ms. O'Brien, I wanted to give you equal
time, in the time remaining that I have. I also wanted you to
think about this and respond to it in the context of what Ms.
Rosado provided--not in just in a particular sense, but in a--
her family being representative of some of the challenges many
families face. I mean, I'm reading from her testimony, ``Alicia
gets a terrible headache, followed by a fever of 102 that lasts
for almost a week.'' Then her mom has to miss work to stay at
home and take care of her. Then she's able to get Alicia back
to school, and then her son David is sick.
How do we----
Ms. O'Brien. Right.
Senator Casey [continuing]. Deal with those real-world--not
theoretical, but real-world--situations?
Ms. O'Brien. Well, first of all, I can empathize with you.
Currently, my son was diagnosed with the swine flu, last week,
and my daughter has that right now. I understand the challenges
of being a working mom and a two-family working mom. I
understand that, I do truly understand that. However, I also
understand that we need flexibility in the workplace. We need--
not a one-size-fits-all type of mandated government regulatory
compliance issues that we need to juggle. We juggle with many,
many different aspects of different laws, like FMLA and HIPAA,
and we can go on and on in how those all interact with
something like the Healthy Families Act.
One thing I do want to go back to--Ms. Ness specified
nursing-home facilities. Workers do not get paid time off for
sick time. I have to say, I have to disagree with that. We
employ 4,000 employees. We are not a publicly held company, we
are a privately owned company, nursing home facility. We offer
PTO time, which we feel is more flexible for our employees,
because not only are they able to take time off if they want to
take care of a sick parent, sick loved one, or want to, maybe,
go on vacation, or may want to take care of a personal
situation, or, by any chance, maybe they're not Catholic, so
maybe they don't recognize Christmas, so maybe they want to
work on Christmas, or different types of holidays that they'd
rather save up that PTO time to do something to care for,
maybe, a sick loved one or--what we find is paid-time-off
policies actually give more flexibility to employees.
I might add, as well, that we also give out buy-backs.
That's very, very critical in today's environment. If our
employees do not use all their PTO time, or don't choose to use
their PTO time, we actually give out paybacks for those PTO
times. Financially, they even gain better under a PTO flexible
workplace.
Again, one-size-fits-all--we are very, very different
industries. We are a 24/7 facility. We are mandated to have a
certain number of staff on our floors. If our patients are not
being cared for, we suffer, they suffer, and we could actually,
potentially, close down. Which, from what I understand, is a
constant struggle, especially in my industry, because we've
seen so many cuts, on a State level, with Medicaid. We had not
seen Medicaid cuts in over 25 years. Those are the struggles
that we are facing on a day-to-day basis.
When you impose a mandate to employers, OK, they have to
choose. There's only a finite amount of resources that we have
to pay for employees' pay, comp, and benefits. It's about 30
percent of our operating costs. Again, it's going to be
stretched. We're going to have to make very difficult
decisions--very difficult decisions. Like, we were faced, this
year, when we had to make a very, very difficult decision
whether or not to lay off people or not give pay raises. I know
that that's a different discussion. Again, you have to
understand the day-to-day challenges we face as employers. My
employer is very different than in manufacturing or from a
public-sector employer.
Senator Casey. Thank you very much. And thank you, for
bringing your personal story, as well.
Senator Enzi.
Senator Enzi. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I want to thank everybody for testifying.
I'm not going to have time to ask all of the questions that
I'd like to ask, so I will be submitting some of them to you in
writing, in hopes of getting back an answer that will help us
as we move through the legislation.
[The information referred to may be found in Additional
Material.]
Senator Enzi. Now, I've been going through the HELP
Committee markup on the health bill, and then the group of six
negotiations--days and days and days of that, from morning
until night--and then the Finance markup. During that time, we
got to meet with the Congressional Budget Office a number of
times to find out what the cost of the bill was. Some of these
costs that we are putting on business--the question that we
always asked was, Will the cost of that benefit be passed on to
the employee? In every instance, they said, ``Yes, it would be,
in the way of reduced salary later, which spreads the cost to
the employee, but it's still a cost of the benefit.'' We have
to be real careful on that.
This bill does have ``use it or lose it'' in it. What I
found out from being an employer is that most employees won't
pay any attention to that. If they're sick, they'll use what
they have. But you always have some that, if it's ``use it or
lose it,'' that last week, if they still have a week--and they
usually don't, they usually have half a day, because they take
half a day or an hour every chance that they accumulate it,
they will take the rest of the time, feeling that if it's
something the government said that they should get, that they
certainly don't want to lose any of that paid leave time.
That's going to be a real problem with the bill.
Dr. Gottlieb, I really appreciate your testimony. You may
have noticed that in my opening remarks I used some of it to
emphasize what you had said. I still have a lot of questions on
vaccines, but I want to take advantage of Ms. O'Brien while
she's here.
I was a member of the Society of Human Resource Management.
Ms. O'Brien. Yes.
Senator Enzi. I'm, I think, the only Senator that's been a
registered professional in human resources.
Ms. O'Brien. I remember when you were first elected.
Senator Enzi. That's how I wound up on this committee, a
little encouragement from that organization. I joined that
organization because, as a small businessman, I had trouble
interpreting a lot of the Federal regulations. And, I've got to
say, that hasn't eased any. That's an organization that can
help you to understand what the stuff that we write actually
says. I am particularly concerned about the H1N1 pandemic, at
the moment.
Ms. O'Brien, how helpful have the Federal and State
Government resources been as you prepared for this flu season?
Do you have any suggestions on what the government could do to
be more helpful? And have you run into any legal barriers as
you've been preparing?
Ms. O'Brien. Well, again in my testimony, we have been
trying--first of all, we need to get more of the seasonal
vaccines, not only for our employees, but for our residents, as
well. For some reason, we are experiencing a huge backlog on
the vaccinations that we have ordered. We ordered those early.
We are also trying to get our hands on the H1N1 vaccine, as
well.
Now, New York State, which we do operate in, required all
healthcare facilities to have the H1N1 and the seasonal flu
vaccine, I believe. They have now lifted that requirement. They
lifted that requirement because they--grassroots effort--there
was a huge complaint that we couldn't get our hands on it. Even
though our intent is to pay for the vaccines for our employees,
because we feel it is the right thing to do, we can't get our
hands on the vaccines. If you're asking me if the government
has been very helpful in that, no, they have not.
Senator Enzi. OK.
Ms. O'Brien. No, they have not.
Senator Enzi. We'll do some more questions on the----
Ms. O'Brien. However, I must say, I do visit the Center for
Disease Control, and they have given us a lot of good
information to pass on to our employees.
Senator Enzi. Now, you mentioned a little bit of a conflict
with the State. I'm going to move back over into the Healthy
Families Act.
Ms. O'Brien. Oh, yes.
Senator Enzi. And your company has facilities in two
States, one of which is New York, and it already mandates paid
leave through an insurance scheme.
Ms. O'Brien. That's correct.
Senator Enzi. Can you describe the multiple levels of
mandates that you'd be required to comply with, should this
bill go into effect?
Ms. O'Brien. Sure. We operate in New York and
Massachusetts, so we have the New York insurance fund and we
also have, in Massachusetts, the Small Necessities Leave Act.
Now, I'm not too sure of how that--I would really have to kind
of study it a little bit to find out how that would interact
with that.
I used to be an HR practitioner in Rhode Island. I actually
live in the State of Rhode Island.They also have a different
type of leave. We are a company that is growing, and we are
growing into different States.
My concern is the administrative burdens, the headaches,
and the time that is spent to patchwork all these different
leaves. It gets very, very confusing when you are trying to
administer. Because we want to do the right thing. It becomes
very, very difficult.
I'm also very concerned about--with the Healthy Families
Act and the recent GINA and also HIPAA. My understanding is,
from this act, we are going to have to ask people why they are
out. We don't want to get into a situation we're on the other
side of the law on those very important Federal regulations. We
are struggling with that, and it is a constant struggle for us,
as HR professionals.
Senator Enzi. Thank you.
I'll be asking some questions of you about some of the
misuses and the way that the law fits in with that. I'll want
some more detailed answers on that, so I'll send that to you--
--
Ms. O'Brien. OK.
Senator Enzi [continuing]. In writing.
Again, I've been one of those small businessmen in that
position of trying to decide what additional benefits to give
and what raises to give, and have been in those times when you
have to decide whether you're going to have to let some people
go.
Ms. O'Brien. The worst decision.
Senator Enzi. I'm really worried about--I'm curious as to
why this legislation is changing the number from 50 people down
to 15 people, when we never have corrected the things that
we've held numerous hearings on in this committee that are
problems with administering the 50 level.
Ms. O'Brien. Right.
Senator Enzi. And the employers with 15 people are going to
have a whole lot less capability of doing it than the people
with 50 or more employees. I think we probably ought to make
all those corrections. Those are some of the things we'll have
to consider.
Again, I thank all the members of the panel. I will have
specific questions, for each of you and will appreciate your
answer.
Ms. O'Brien. Thank you.
Senator Casey. Thank you, Senator Enzi.
Before we go, I just have one or two questions for Ms.
Ness, and then we'll conclude.
And, Dr. Gottlieb, you'll be, I guess, answering a lot of
questions in writing. I don't know whether that's good or bad.
[Laughter.]
You'll be getting a lot of those.
Ms. Ness, two questions. One is, what's your sense, based
upon your work and observation of how sick leave policies have
been implemented, with regard to two issues: First, how have
cities done when they've implemented sick leave policies--to
the extent that you can tell us that. And second, if you could
amplify or summarize what you had said before with regard to
the positive business impact of having this legislation in
place.
Ms. Ness. I don't have specific statistics on how cities
are doing, compared to States or private-sector employers, but,
in general, public-sector employers are doing a better job on
this front than the private sector. And, as we all know, the
Federal Government makes 13 paid sick days available per year
to workers.
I do want to say, in response to Ms. O'Brien's comments--
first, I commend her. It sounds like you are a model employer
and the kind of employer that we need more of.
I think that there are some misunderstandings about the
legislation, because it sounds to me, from what you've
described, that this legislation wouldn't require you to change
anything.
One of the things we've tried to do, in working with
members of this subcommittee in crafting this legislation, is
to keep it as simple as possible and as easy for employers to
implement as possible. Again, we want to make this be something
that works well for both employers and employees. And we
believe that it should. As I said earlier, it's good business
sense. It makes sense to give people time off when they're
sick. All the research shows that the costs of presenteeism--
people going to work sick--is actually higher than the cost of
giving people the time they need to get better, because--it's
common sense. People take longer to get better, they get other
people sick, there's more absenteeism. It also costs more,
generally, to recruit and hire and train a new employee than to
give somebody a few days to get better.
No matter how you look at it, it generally is common sense
and good for the bottom line for businesses to do this, as well
as essential to working families' economic security.
I want to underscore, we're in the middle of a major
healthcare debate in this country, and one of the challenges
that we're all grappling with is the terrible disparities we
see in health outcomes and health status in this country.
There's this clear evidence that the lack of paid sick days is
something that falls disproportionately hard on low-income
workers and communities of color. And there's growing evidence
that the H1N1 virus is hitting communities of color harder than
other communities.
We recently saw some information from the Boston Public
Health Commission that made it clear that in the African-
American community and the Hispanic community, the incidence of
H1N1 was much higher, and the percentage of hospitalizations
was much higher in those communities. There's a correlation
between that and people not being able to stay home when
they're sick, not being able to get to a doctor because they
don't have the time to do so.
All of these issues interrelate, as we think about this as
an economic security issue for workers and families. It's a
serious public health issue. It is related to our quest to
eliminate the terrible disparities we face in this country when
it comes to health outcomes.
Senator Casey. Well, thank you very much.
I do want to say, as we conclude here, that at the end of
the hearing we need to emphasize that the record will be open
for 10 days for anyone who would like to submit statements. Of
course, as I mentioned, there will be further questions
submitted.
I do want to thank our witnesses for your presence here,
and especially for both the Rosado and the O'Brien families,
who have particular challenges right now. We hope that it all
works out and everyone stays healthy. We're grateful for that.
I want to thank Senator Dodd for chairing this hearing,
Senator Enzi for being here with us today. And we're grateful.
This hearing is adjourned.
Thank you very much.
[Additional material follows.]
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL
Prepared Statement of Senator Harkin
Recently President Obama declared the H1N1 outbreak to be a
national emergency. This important step will allow us to speed
up the government's response to this disease and make better
use of our public health resources.
But fighting H1N1 isn't just a task for the government--
each and every American has to do their part. That means taking
preventive measures to avoid illness and--if you do become
sick--following proper guidelines to avoid spreading the
disease to others.
These guidelines are simple: If you get sick, stay home
from work or school and limit contact with others. Indeed, the
CDC strongly recommends that people with H1N1 stay home at
least 24 hours after their fever ends.
Unfortunately, too many Americans cannot follow this common
sense prescription. Almost half of all private sector workers--
including 79 percent of low-wage workers--have no paid sick
days they can use to care for themselves or a sick family
member. For these workers, taking a day off means losing a
much-needed paycheck, or even putting their jobs in danger. In
this tough economy, workers without paid sick days effectively
have no choice: they have to go to work. Even if they're sick,
even if they're contagious, even if they have a sick child at
home, they have to go to work.
The lack of paid sick days is a crisis for public health
that will make the H1N1 outbreak worse. Studies show that a
single sick worker who is infected with a highly contagious
disease like H1N1 is likely to infect almost 20 percent of the
coworkers they come into contact with. The likelihood of
transmission is even greater for workers who handle food or
provide hands-on care to children, elderly, or disabled
Americans. Unfortunately, these are the workers least likely to
have paid sick days.
Lack of paid sick days is also a crisis for America's
working families. Parents forced to choose between a job and
caring for a child often have no choice but to leave sick
children home alone. These children are unable to see their
doctors for diagnosis or medication and are at serious risk if
their condition worsens. They are also unlikely to recover as
quickly. There is strong medical evidence that sick children
have shorter recovery periods, better vital signs, and fewer
symptoms when their parents share in their care, but for
parents without paid sick days staying home just isn't an
option.
That's unacceptable. As President Obama has said, ``Nobody
in America should have to choose between keeping their jobs and
caring for a sick child.''
That's why I am glad that Senator Dodd has called this
hearing today, and why I am a proud supporter of the Healthy
Families Act. This critical legislation allows workers to earn
up to 7 days of paid sick leave each year. Employees can use
this time to stay home and get well when they are ill, to care
for a sick family member, to obtain preventive or diagnostic
treatment, or to seek help if they are victims of domestic
violence.
The Healthy Families Act would be a common sense policy
even in normal times. Every worker has to miss days of work
because of illness. Every child gets sick and needs a parent at
home to take care of them. Every person needs to see a doctor
on occasion for preventive care. Hardworking Americans deserve
the chance to take care of these needs without putting their
jobs on the line.
But this bill is even more critical when we are facing a
public health crisis. Now more than ever, workers want to do
the responsible thing and stay home when they're sick. And they
want to be able to protect their health and their family's
health by taking the time they need to get vaccines and
treatment.
The Healthy Families Act is an essential part of our
national response to the H1N1 outbreak. It will protect our
families, and protect our nation. Experts estimate that if
workers followed the CDC's guidance and stayed home from work
when they are sick, it could reduce the number of people
infected by a pandemic flu by 15-34 percent. Passing this bill
will, quite literally, save lives, both now and in the future.
I hope all of my colleagues will join me in supporting the
Healthy Families Act.
Prepared Statement of Senator Murray
Thank you, Senator Dodd, for holding this hearing.
I appreciate the witnesses who have taken the time to be
here today to discuss how we can help protect our workers,
families, businesses, and communities from illness.
This is especially important now as we see H1N1 spread
across the Nation.
I would like to start by saying once again just how much we
miss our dear friend Ted Kennedy--especially as we discuss this
issue. He was such a strong champion for paid leave in the
workplace, and his hard work has moved us closer to that goal.
And that goal is so critical.
Since my time as a State Senator and a working mother I
have been fighting to ensure that working Americans can take
care of themselves and their families when they are sick--and
not have to worry about losing their jobs.
I was so proud to stand with Senator Dodd in my first year
as a U.S. Senator as we passed the Family and Medical Leave
Act.
That was a great step forward--but the work is far from
done.
Our families are facing the toughest economic environment
since the Great Depression. Too many are asking themselves how
they're going to pay their rent, their health care premiums, or
how they will put food on the table.
But one thing they should never have to worry about is
losing their jobs or their paychecks just because they or a
family member gets sick.
That's why I am proud to be an original co-sponsor of the
Healthy Families Act that would allow workers to earn up to 56
hours of paid leave to care for themselves or their family.
This problem is not new, but the current H1N1 crisis has
demonstrated so clearly the consequences and costs of employees
coming into work sick--and the very real need for a policy that
will allow them to stay home.
This is not just good for workers--it is critical for
businesses that want to keep their workforce healthy and
productive during a national health care crisis like H1N1.&
The CDC has issued guidance to help employers plan for and
respond to H1N1. This guidance urges employers to allow sick
workers to stay home without fear of losing their jobs and to
allow workers to care for sick family members or for children
if schools dismiss students.
We've been told by the CDC that on average, an individual
who comes to work with H1N1 will infect 10 percent of his or
her coworkers.
Those workers could then infect even more workers--
including those who are particularly vulnerable to the flu,
such as those with underlying health conditions or women who
are pregnant.
Workers and businesses have a responsibility to each other
and to the public to prevent the spread of serious illnesses
like H1N1.
Ensuring that workers have paid leave makes the decision to
stay home much easier for employees who are struggling to pay
the bills.
Let's also not forget that our health care professionals,
who will be the front line for all Americans in tackling this
crisis, are employees as well.
And good leave policies will help them choose to care for
themselves without being concerned about keeping their job.
I encourage my colleagues to pay close attention to this
health crisis.
To consider the value of guaranteed paid leave not only for
our workers and businesses, but to help keep illnesses like
H1N1 under control.
And to support the Healthy Families Act.
Thank you.
Prepared Statement of the American Association of
University Women (AAUW)
Thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony for the
subcommittee's hearing on paid sick days and the H1N1 flu.
Founded in 1881, the American Association of University Women
(AAUW) is a membership organization founded in 1881 with approximately
100,000 members and 1,300 branches nationwide. AAUW has a proud 128-
year history of breaking through educational and economic barriers for
women and girls, and continues its mission today through education,
research, and advocacy. AAUW believes that creating work environments
that help employees balance the responsibilities of work and family is
good public policy. In fact, AAUW's 2009-2011 member-adopted Public
Policy Program is committed to ``greater availability of and access to
benefits and policies that create a family-friendly workplace
environment,'' which are critical for women to achieve ``equitable
access and advancement in employment.''\1\
Despite the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and a patchwork of
State laws and employer-based benefits--many of which AAUW members
helped to pass--family and personal sick leave remain elusive to many
working Americans. Further, despite the relative wealth of the United
States, our family-oriented workplace policies lag dramatically and
embarrassingly behind those in much of the rest of the world--including
all high-income countries and many middle- and low-income countries as
well.\2\
This year particular attention must be paid to workplace policies
which shape how families and workplaces respond to an outbreak of
pandemic flu. As we all know, the H1N1 flu has become widespread, and
many employers are working toward developing plans to help employees
avoid presenteeism\3\ and ensure that business continues. AAUW supports
the Healthy Families Act (S. 1152) as the solution to keeping families
healthy and economically secure--and businesses solvent and open--
during this and future flu seasons.
EMPLOYEES NEED PAID SICK DAYS, ESPECIALLY WOMEN
AAUW has long supported flexible workplace policies to address the
family responsibilities of employees. Offering workers the option of
taking time off when they or a family member is sick is not just good
for families, it's good for business. At least 145 countries worldwide
provide paid sick days, with 127 providing a week or more annually.
More than 79 countries provide sickness benefits for at least 26 weeks
or until recovery.\4\
But many hardworking Americans do not have access to the important
benefit of paid sick leave. In fact, just under half (43 percent) of
the private sector workforce has no paid sick days.\5\ Low-wage workers
are especially hard hit, with about half receiving no paid sick
days.\6\ In the industries that employ the most women--retail trade and
accommodations/food service, which coincidentally have immense public
health implications due to their accompanying contact with the public--
almost 9 million women do not have paid sick days.\7\ Further, 27
percent of low-income women put off getting health care because they
cannot take time off from work and 18 percent of women at all income
levels face this situation.\8\ More than 22 million working women do
not have paid sick days,\9\ and as a result half of working mothers
report that they must miss work and often go without pay when caring
for a sick child.\10\
Paid employment should not be at odds with family responsibilities.
In fact, finding solutions so that the two roles might better coexist
is in the best interest of businesses. Current models of benefits are
out of touch with the realities of the 21st century workforce, where
households are often headed by dual-earning couples out of necessity,
or a single parent whose juggling act can be particularly difficult.
Furthermore, elder care responsibilities affect nearly 4 in 10 adults,
and this number is likely to grow higher as nearly two-thirds of
Americans under age 60 expect to be responsible for the care of an
elderly relative in 2008.\11\ But work is not a choice for the majority
of Americans, and most cannot afford to forfeit their paycheck or their
job when a family member is sick; the Healthy Families Act provides a
reasonable solution to this everyday crisis faced by families
nationwide.
THE HEALTHY FAMILIES ACT
Without paid sick days, employees often come to work sick,
decreasing productivity and infecting co-workers. We've seen increased
attention to this community health issue during the recent H1N1 flu
pandemic, with CDC officials urging schools to close and workers
presenting symptoms to stay home.\12\ In addition, the CDC guidance
recommends that employers institute flexible workplace and leave
policies for sick workers, those who stay home to care for ill family
members, and those who must stay home to watch their children if
dismissed from school. The lack of available paid sick days forces
families with children to confront difficult choices that impact not
only their families but potentially their communities as well. Such
decisions can become a catch-22. For the 86 million Americans who do
not have paid sick days,\13\ a decision to stay home to care for a sick
child or family member jeopardizes their family income or even their
job in an economy where it is difficult to find another. In addition,
employees themselves are unable to make smart decisions to stay home to
prevent infecting others because they cannot go without a day's wages.
The Healthy Families Act would require employers with at least 15
or more employees to guarantee workers 7 days of accrued paid sick
leave annually. By ensuring that hard working Americans have access to
a minimum number of paid sick days that can also be used to care for
sick dependents, employees will no longer have to make the difficult
choices between caring for loved ones--or themselves--and losing much-
needed income. In these challenging economic times, that decision is an
especially difficult one for families to make.
In the 111th Congress, the Healthy Families Act was introduced with
an important new provision. The bill's paid sick days would be
available for use for treatment, recovery, and activities necessary to
deal with an incidence of domestic violence. This includes, but is not
limited to, activities such as filing a restraining order, making a
court appearance, moving into a shelter, and seeking medical treatment.
We know that the aftermath of domestic violence costs employers, at a
minimum, between $3 billion and $5 billion annually in lost time and
productivity.\14\ And even more importantly, victims of intimate
partner violence lose 8 million days of paid work each year.\15\ Paid
sick and safe days are a necessity to victims and AAUW supports this
new provision in the bill.
This Congress, the Health Family Act ensures employees paid sick
days through a mechanism that is business friendly. Employees now
accrue up to 7 paid sick days a year based on the hours they work--a
method that is similar to the allocation of other benefits employers
may already have in place. This is also a method that ensures that
part-time workers are included.
Not only is offering paid sick days a positive step for businesses
to stay in tune with the makeup and needs of the 21st century
workforce, paid sick days produce savings for businesses through
decreased turnover and increased productivity. The Institute for
Women's Policy Research estimates that the Healthy Families Act would
result in a net savings, after covering costs of paid leave, of $8
billion per year. In addition, we are fortunate to be able to examine
the policy already in place in San Francisco, where it was shown that
implementing paid sick days resulted in a minor impact on employers and
strong job growth in relation to the region.\16\
CONCLUSION
The recent H1N1 flu pandemic has brought long overdue attention to
the tenuous balance a majority of workers and families seek to
establish between a paycheck and their own health needs. Families
cannot go without a paycheck when one member is sick, but presenteeism
in the workplace will only serve to increase the public health risk and
spread of disease. The Healthy Families Act is a long-term workable
solution that contains principles necessary to any paid sick days
legislation--ensuring that workers are economically secure, protected
in their jobs, and able to care for their families and themselves when
illness strikes. For these reasons, AAUW strongly urges passage of the
Healthy Families Act.
Thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony.
For more information please contact Lisa Maatz, director of public
policy and government relations, at (202) 785-7720 or [email protected].
References
1. American Association of University Women. (July 2007). 2007-09
AAUW Public Policy Program. Retrieved April 8, 2009, from http://
www.aauw.org/advocacy/issue_advocacy/upload/2007-09-PPP-brochure.pdf.
2. Hegewisch, Ariane and Janet Gornick. (May 2008). Statutory
Routes to Workplace Flexibility in Cross-National Perspective.
Institute for Women's Policy Research. Retrieved April 8, 2009 from
http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/B258workplace
flex.pdf.
3. When employees come to work in spite of illness.
4. The Institute for Health and Social Policy. (2007). The Work,
Family, and Equity Index: How Does the United States Measure Up?
Retrieved January 15, 2008, from http://www.mcgill.ca/files/ihsp/
WFEIFinal2007.pdf.
5. U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. (August
2007). National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in Private
Industry in the United States, March 2007, Table 19. Retrieved January
16, 2008, from http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/sp/ebsm0006.pdf.
6. U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. (August
2007). National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in Private
Industry in the United States, March 2007, Table 19. Retrieved January
16, 2008, from http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/sp/ebsm0006.pdf.
7. Ibid.
8. Salganicoff, Alina, Usha R. Ranji, and Roberta Wyn. (2005) Women
and Health Care: A National Profile. Kaiser Family Foundation.
Retrieved January 15, 2008 from http://www.kff.org/womenshealth/
7336.cfm.
9. Institute for Women's Policy Research. (February 2007). Women
and Paid Sick Days: Crucial for Family Well-Being. Retrieved January
15, 2008 from http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/B254_paidsickdaysFS.pdf.
10. Kaiser Family Foundation. (April 2003). Women, Work and Family
Health: A Balancing Act. Retrieved January 15, 2008 from http://
www.kff.org/womenshealth/loader.cfm?url=/commonspot/security/
getfile.cfm&PageID=14293.
11. National Partnership for Women and Families. (June 2004). Get
Well Soon: Americans Can't Afford to Be Sick. Accessed January 24, 2008
from http://www.nationalpartnership.org/site/DocServer/
GetWellSoonReport.pdf?docID=342.
12. http://cdc.gov/h1n1flu/business/guidance/.
13. Lovell, Vicky. (May 2004). No Time to be Sick: Why Everyone
Suffers When Workers Don't Have Paid Sick Leave. Institute for Women's
Policy Research. Accessed January 5, 2008 from http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/
B242.pdf.
14. Bureau of Nat'l Aff., Special Rep. No. 32, Violence and Stress:
The Work/Family Connection 2 (1990).
15. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Costs of Intimate
Partner Violence Against Women in the United States (2003).
16. Institute for Women's Policy Research. (October 2008). Job
Growth Strong with Paid Sick Days. Retrieved May 6, 2009 from
www.iwpr.org/pdf/B264_JobGrowth.pdf.
Prepared Statement of the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)
The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) is a nonpartisan
national nonprofit that develops and advocates for policies at the
Federal, State, and local levels that improve the lives of low-income
people. CLASP's mission is to improve the economic security,
educational and workforce prospects, and family stability of low-income
parents, children, and youth, and to secure equal justice for all.
CLASP strongly encourages passage of the Healthy Families Act (H.R.
2460/S 1152). The Healthy Families Act would allow those who work for
businesses with 15 or greater employees to earn up to 7 paid sick days
per year. These days could be used for: an absence related to a
physical or mental illness, injury, or medical condition; obtaining
professional medical diagnosis or care, or preventive medical care for
the employee; obtaining the same types of care for a family member; and
seeking services to recover from domestic violence.
Having paid sick days is a basic labor standard that needs to be
legislated because the lack of a mandate has resulted in about half of
all private-sector workers having no ability to take a day off when
sick without losing pay. Too many are at risk of losing jobs as well.
The lack of paid sick days disproportionately affects low-income
people, heightens public health risks, and creates an uneven playing
field for businesses.
The lack of paid sick days particularly hurts low-income workers:
Nearly half of all private-sector U.S. workers (47 percent) do not
receive any sick time and 70 percent do not have sick days to care for
sick children. It's worse for low-income workers. Fully 77 percent of
workers in the bottom wage quartile--nearly 24 million--do not have any
paid sick leave.\1\ When these workers fall ill, or their children or
other family members get sick, they are forced to choose between their
badly needed pay check and often their job security, and their health.
Parents with paid time off are more than five times as likely as other
parents to stay home with sick children, which helps with recovery, yet
only 41 percent of working mothers have paid sick days consistently.\2\
Many workers who do have paid time off are permitted to use it only for
their own illness, not to care for a sick family member.
The lack of paid sick days threatens our public health: President
Obama has declared the H1N1 flu outbreak a national emergency, and the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued guidelines
recommending that employees experiencing flu-like symptoms stay home
from work or school and limit contact with others. Employees are unable
to heed these warnings if they do not have paid sick days and cannot
afford to stay home from work or risk losing their jobs.
The danger resulting from the spread of viruses and disease is
especially acute in the service industry, where workers interact
regularly with the general public. Because service workers earn low
wages, they usually cannot afford to miss a day of work during an
illness. Further, workers in the food and accommodation industry are
least likely to have access to paid sick days.\3\ Without paid sick
days, some employees continue to go to work and interact with patrons
while sick, which creates a public health concern.\4\
While some businesses may have responded to the recent flu outbreak
by providing time off for employees to protect public health, many
businesses have not changed their policies. A government policy that
sets a labor standard floor is essential.
Providing paid sick days is good for business: A minimum labor
standard on paid sick days is critical to ensure that businesses,
especially small businesses, have a level-playing field. Competition
with other firms that do not offer paid sick days discourages many
businesses from voluntarily offering paid sick days to their employees,
even when they would like to do so.\5\ A small firm that wants to
provide paid sick days to its employees typically cannot afford to do
so unless the firm's competitor provides them as well. The smaller a
firm's profit margin, the greater the need for a level-playing field.
Costs associated with high rates of turnover are substantial. Paid
sick days would reduce the incentive for employees to leave one firm
for another with better working conditions. Unhealthy workers also are
unproductive workers. ``Presenteeism,'' or the cost incurred when sick
employees go to work but perform under par due to illness, constitutes
a ``hidden'' loss in productivity for businesses. Health conditions of
sick employees often worsen when they do not rest at home or seek
medical care, thereby exacerbating the loss in productivity. And,
sickness is spread easily in the workplace from one employee to
another.\6\ Flu contagion in the workplace costs our national economy
$180 billion annually in lost productivity.\7\ For employers, this
costs an average of $255 per employee per year and exceeds the cost of
absenteeism and medical and disability benefits.
There is some concern that mandated paid sick days legislation
would lead to job loss and raise the unemployment rate. But a recent
study has found that there is no statistically significant effect of
mandated paid sick days or leave on national unemployment rates.\8\
However, paid sick days could pay off by restricting the costly spread
of contagious diseases.
The public supports a minimum standard; other nations already
provide it: Because paid sick days are critical to public health and
are good for business, it is not surprising that 21 of the world's 22
highly ranked countries in terms of economic and human development
provide paid sick days. The United States is the only country among
that group that has failed to adopt a national policy guaranteeing that
workers receive paid sick days or paid leave.\9\
There is widespread public support for paid sick days as a basic
labor standard. According to a survey conducted for the Public Welfare
Foundation, 82 percent of respondents considered paid sick leave for
themselves a ``very important'' employee benefit. In addition, 75
percent of respondents ``strongly favored'' a law guaranteeing all
workers a minimum number of paid sick days.\10\
The Healthy Families Act provides our Nation with an opportunity to
provide paid sick days to workers, including the many low-wage workers
who cannot afford to do without them. CLASP strongly urges passage of
the Healthy Families Act.
References
1. Vicky Lovell, ``No Time to be Sick: Why Everyone Suffers When
Workers Don't Have Paid Sick Leave,'' Institute for Women's Policy
Research, Washington, DC, 20004. Low-income is defined as less than 200
percent of the Federal poverty line.
2. Jody Heymann, ``The Widening Gap: Why America's Working Families
are in Jeopardy and What Can be Done About It,'' Basic Books, 2000.
3. Institute for Women's Policy Research, ``No Time to Be Sick: Why
Everyone Suffers When Workers Don't Have Paid Sick Leave.''
4. Jodie Levin-Epstein, ``Here's a Tip: When Restaurant and Hotel
Workers Don't Have Paid Sick Days, It Hurts Us All,'' Center for Law
and Social Policy, February 2007, http://www.clasp.org/publications/
heres_a_tip.pdf.
5. Jodie Levin-Epstein, ``Responsive Workplaces: The Business Case
for Employment that Values Fairness and Families,'' The American
Prospect, February 2007, http://www.prospect.org/cs/
articles?article=responsive_workplaces.
6. Jodie Levin-Epstein, ``Presenteeism and Paid Sick Days,'' Center
for Law and Social Policy, February 2005, http://clasp.org/
publications/presenteeism.pdf.
7. Ron Goetzal, et al., ``Health Absence, Disability, and
Presenteeism Cost Estimates of Certain Physical and Mental Health
Conditions Affecting U.S. Employers,'' Journal of Occupational and
Environmental Medicine, April 2004.
8. John Schmitt, et al., ``Paid Sick Days Don't Cause
Unemployment,'' Center for Economic and Policy Research, June 2009.
9. Jody Heymann et al., ``Contagion Nation: A Comparison of Paid
Sick Day Policies in 22 Countries,'' Center for Economic and Policy
Research, May 2009.
10. Public Welfare Foundation, ``Paid Sick Days: A Basic Labor
Standard for the 21st Century,'' National Opinion Research Center,
August 2008, http://www.norc.org/NR/rdonlyres/D1391669-A1EA-4CF4-9B36-
5FB1C1B595AA/0/Paid
SickDaysReport.pdf.
For more information please contact: Jodie Levin-Epstein--
[email protected]; or Lexer [email protected].
Prepared Statement of Deborah L. Frett, CEO, Business and
Professional Women's Foundation
INTRODUCTION
Thank you for this opportunity to submit testimony on behalf of
Business and Professional Women's Foundation in support of the Healthy
Families Act (S. 1152/H.R. 2460).
Business and Professional Women's Foundation (BPW Foundation) works
with women, employers and policymakers to create successful workplaces
that practice and embrace diversity, equity and work-life balance.
Through our groundbreaking research and our unique role as a neutral
convener of employers and employees, BPW Foundation leads the way in
developing and advocating for polices and programs that ``work'' for
both women and businesses. A successful workplace is one where women
can succeed and businesses can profit.
BPW Foundation has a network of supporters in every community
across the country which includes both employers and employees. Both
our employee and employer members support paid sick days because they
know it's good for business and workers.
THE CHANGING WORKFORCE
One of the most significant trends of the past 50 years has been
the movement of women, especially mothers, into the paid labor force
and the growth of women-owned businesses. Women now make up half of the
U.S. workforce and are projected to account for 49 percent of the
increase in total labor force growth between 2006 and 2016.\1\ Women-
owned firms represent 30 percent of all U.S. businesses and between
1997 and 2004 the number of women-owned firms increased by 17 percent
nationwide--twice the rate of all firms.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics,
Employment and Earnings, 2008 Annual Averages and the Monthly Labor
Review, November 2007.
\2\ U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics,
Employment and Earnings, 2008 Annual Averages and the Monthly Labor
Review, November 2007.
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Achieving a sustainable work-life balance is of paramount concern
for working women and their families. One-third (\1/3\) of women
believe that the difficulty of combining work and family is their
biggest work-related problem, and nearly three-fourths (\3/4\) think
the government should do more to help.\3\ Many women business owners
say they left their previous employer to start their own businesses to
have greater work-life balance, and therefore they are more likely to
offer that flexibility to their employees. Women-owned firms in the
United States are more likely than all firms to offer flex-time,
tuition reimbursement, and profit sharing to their employees.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ Families and Work Institute, ``National Study of the Changing
Workforce,'' 2002.
\4\ Business and Professional Women's Foundation, ``101 Facts on
the Status of Working Women,'' October 2007.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Despite the current economic downturn, there is ample evidence that
we are headed toward a workforce shortage. There will be more jobs than
workers and the jobs of the future are going to call for more
education, more critical thinking and more compassion--all skills at
which women excel. The number of jobs requiring either an associate's
degree or a post secondary vocational credential will grow by 24.1
percent during this decade. By 2020 it is estimated that there will be
15 million new U.S. jobs requiring college preparation; yet at the
current rates there is the potential for 12 million unfilled skilled
jobs.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ Bureau of Labor Statistics, ``Occupational Outlook Handbook,''
2002-2003 Edition.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The make-up of the workforce has changed. Women account for 51
percent of persons employed in management, professional and related
occupations categories; 63 percent of sales and office occupations;
and, 45 percent of workers in public administration.\6\ Other data
shows that businesses with more women in senior positions are more
profitable, women make a majority of the buying decisions within a
family and younger workers are demanding more flexibility in their
workplaces.\7\ Investing in policies that support working women is
simply good for business.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\6\ U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics,
Employment and Earnings, 2008 Annual Averages and the Monthly Labor
Review, November 2007.
\7\ Roy D. Adler and Ron Conlin, ``Profit Thy Name is . . .
Woman?'' Miller-McCune.com, February 27, 2009, http://www.miller-
mccune.com/business_economics/profit-thy-name-is-woman-1007; Business
and Professional Women's Foundation, ``101 Facts on the Status of
Working Women,'' October 2007.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The increasing work commitment of American families and the
changing workforce is putting new pressure on employers and
policymakers to address the problem of work-life balance. BPW
Foundation believes that greater attention to work-life policy
initiatives, such as paid sick days, is good for business and will
result in improved employee retention, positive human capital outcomes,
a more productive workforce and healthier and happier families.
BPW Foundation supports the Healthy Families Act (S. 1152/H.R.
2460) because it is an important and necessary step towards achieving
work-life balance.
HEALTHY FAMILIES ACT (S. 1152/H.R. 2460)
BPW Foundation supports the Healthy Families Act and its goal to
guarantee full-time workers seven (7) paid sick days each year to
recover from an illness, care for a sick family member, seek routine
medical care, or seek assistance related to domestic violence.
Women make up half of the U.S. workforce. Currently there are no
State or Federal laws that guarantee all workers a minimum number of
paid sick days. Nearly half (48 percent) of private-sector workers
don't have a single paid sick day to care for their own health or that
of a family member.\8\ The lack of this benefit has forced millions of
Americans to choose between their paychecks and their health or the
health of a family member. The Healthy Families Act is much needed
change.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\8\ Vicky Lovell, Institute for Women's Policy Research, ``Women
and Paid Sick Days: Crucial for Family Well-Being,'' 2007.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The lack of paid sick days particularly hurts working women, who
still bear a disproportionate responsibility for care of the family.
According to the National Compensation Study, more than 22 million
working women self report that they do not have paid sick days.\9\ Half
of all working mothers report that they have had to miss work to care
for an ailing child and of those half reported that they lost wages in
the process.\10\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\9\ Institute for Women's Policy Research analysis of the March
2006 National Compensation Survey, the November 2005 through October
2006 Current Employment Statistics, and the November 2005 through
October 2006 Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.
\10\ Kaiser Family Foundation, ``Women, Work and Family Health: A
Balancing Act,'' Issue Brief, April 2003.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following story was shared with us on the condition of
anonymity. The author is a mother who works as a security guard for a
large corporation and feared recrimination just for talking about her
struggles due to a lack of paid sick leave.
I would love to have paid sick leave. I'm a mother of two
girls, 3 and 13. When I was pregnant with my first child I had
no clue what to expect. Being pregnant, you have to go to the
doctor a lot. My job didn't provide any leave at all. If you do
not work, you do not get paid. Every time I had a doctor's
appointment, I had to check my calendar and make sure I could
afford to take off. I worked up to my 32d week and it took 3
months to get back to work. In that time with no income I had
to go on welfare and food stamps.
With a child, I had to leave work for emergencies more
frequently because any problem with your child is top priority.
It would be great to be able to take leave to handle such
things and not feel guilty or scared about missing work!
With my second child I was a little more prepared, but it was
the same story: miss work and you don't get paid. Well, this
time around I was put to the test; I had rent, electric, gas
and transportation bills. I lost my apartment because I had no
income while out with a new child. I'm not saying that having
paid sick leave would have saved my apartment, but I would have
had better options and managed my time off better. I currently
work M-F 7 a.m.-3 p.m. and overtime whenever possible. If I
need to take my children to annual check-ups, I have to take
unpaid leave. There would be a lot less stress in those
situations if I had time I could take with no reprimand.
Being a single mother is hard enough. A few days of sick
leave could mean a great deal to anyone out here trying to
raise a family and be a responsible parent.
The lack of paid sick days also hurts men. Thirty percent of
working fathers report having had to take unpaid leave to care for
themselves or a family member.\11\ More than 2 million fathers are the
primary caregivers of children under 18, a 62 percent increase since
1990.\12\ Due to lingering stereotypes about gender roles, some men
report having been denied leave to care for a family member.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\11\ Kaiser Family Foundation, ``Women, Work and Family Health: A
Balancing Act,'' Issue Brief, April 2003.
\12\ Business and Professional Women's Foundation, ``The State of
Work-Life Effectiveness,'' June 2006, PP. 4 & 20.
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The lack of paid sick days hurts families. It hurts moms and dads,
kids and grandparents and singles--everyone gets sick. This fact has
been driven home by the spread of the H1N1 flu virus. It is difficult
for many families to heed the government warning to stay home from work
and to keep sick children home from school when they lack job-protected
paid sick days. Many workers will risk their paychecks and even their
jobs if they stay home when they or their children contract the flu.
Unpaid time impacts the entire household because of the lost income.
And not taking sick time impacts your health and ability to do
preventive and wellness care. Without paid sick days, workers and
families face financial difficulty in cases of illness or family health
emergencies like H1N1 flu virus.
The American family has changed dramatically in the last 50 years.
Employee benefits should reflect the way we live now. In the 1960s, the
overwhelming majority--70 percent--of American families with children
had a mother who stayed home to provide around-the-clock childcare.
Today, that statistic is reversed: two-thirds of families with children
have either two employed parents, or a single employed parent, most of
whom now work full-time.\13\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\13\ U.S. Census Bureau, ``America's Families and Living
Arrangements: 2006,'' http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/hh-fam/
cps2006/tabFG1-all; Bond, et al., ``Highlights of the National Study of
the Changing Workforce,'' 2002.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
If we are really committed to the American family, leave policies
must be created so that everyone can achieve the work-life balance that
is so frequently talked about. It is not enough for a few companies to
offer paid sick days; it must be widely recognized as key to a
successful workplace. In this economic climate many working women are
backing off from their flexible work schedules and not taking sick days
for fear of losing their jobs. A benefit that employees are afraid to
take advantage of is no benefit. If we are truly interested in
fostering a strong and productive workforce and strong families, then
we must ensure that there are workplace policies that support employee
success. And paid sick days is such a policy.
Paid sick days are good for business. The lack of paid sick days
leads to what is known as ``presenteeism.'' Presenteeism is the
practice of employees coming to work sick, being unproductive and
infecting their co-workers. That is bad for business. Ultimately, it
costs businesses less to allow a sick person to stay home with pay than
it does if the sick worker causes the illness of others in the
workplace. The American Productivity Audit and studies in the Journal
of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, the Employee Benefit News,
and the Harvard Business Review show that presenteeism is a large drain
on productivity--larger than that of either absenteeism or short-term
disability.
Companies that provide paid sick days tend to have lower job
turnover rates, lower recruitment and training costs, lower unnecessary
absenteeism, and a higher level of productivity than firms that do not
offer this benefit.\14\ The stock market is showing favorable signs to
support work-life policies as well. A recent Harvard Business article
cited a research study of stock market reaction to the announcement of
Fortune 500 firms adopting work-family programs. The results showed a
positive swing of the stock--on average 0.48 percent.\15\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\14\ Jane Waldfogel, ``The Impact of the Family Medical Leave
Act,'' Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, vol. 18, Spring 1999;
Christine Siegwarth Meyer, Swati Mukerjee, and Ann Sestero, ``Work-
Family Benefits: Which Ones Maximize Profits?'' Journal of Managerial
Issues, 13(1):28-44, Spring 2001; Families and Work Institute, Business
Work-Life Study, 1998, available at http://www.familiesandwork.org/
summary/worklife.pdf; Children's Defense Fund, ``Minnesota, Parental
Leave in Minnesota: A Survey of Employers,'' Winter 2000; and ``Limits
of Family Leave,'' Chicago Tribune, May 4, 1999.
\15\ Freek Vermeulen, ``The Case for Work/Life Programs,'' Harvard
Business blog, April 2009.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Healthy Families Act also contains important protections for
business. To meet the concerns of small businesses, companies with 15
employees or fewer are exempted. And if a company already provides paid
sick days, nothing changes. In addition, paid sick days will be
calculated using an accrual method so an employee will earn those days
over time rather than getting them all at once. At first glance, many
business owners thought that offering paid sick days would be a burden,
but the numerous who have initiated this benefit have found that it is
an easy adjustment and the pay-offs in productivity and happy employees
are well worth it.
Business research firms have calculated the ROI (Return on
Investment) of companies who execute work-life effectiveness policies
to those that do not and found that there are positive business profits
for those who do. For example, companies on ``best companies to work
for'' lists (e.g. excellent HR practices) produced four times the
bottom line gains as compared to other indexes such as the S&P 500.\16\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\16\ Business and Professional Women's Foundation, ``The State of
``Work-Life Effectiveness,'' June 2006, pp. 2 & 12.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONCLUSION
BPW Foundation believes in a three-pronged approach to creating a
successful workplace.
1. Legislation like the Healthy Families Act;
2. Working with businesses to proactively implement and update
their own workplace policies; and
3. Empowering women through education.
Paid sick days are important to BPW Foundation because they are
important to the health and well-being of women, families and
workplaces. The Healthy Families Act will start us on the road toward
successful workplaces for employers and employees.
Thank you.
______
National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB),
November 23, 2009.
Hon. Tom Harkin, Chairman,
Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions,
428 Dirksen Senate Office Building,
Washington, DC 20510.
Hon. Mike Enzi, Ranking Member,
Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions,
428 Dirksen Senate Office Building,
Washington, DC 20510.
Dear Chairman Harkin and Ranking Member Enzi: On behalf of the
National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the Nation's
leading small business advocacy organization, I am writing in
opposition to the proposed paid leave mandate to combat the spread of
the H1N1 virus. NFIB believes that short-term problems cannot be solved
by long-term mandates, especially when unemployment is at a 26-year
high of 10.2 percent.
NFIB's opposition to mandated paid leave to prevent the spread of
contagious illnesses does not mean we do not take this issue seriously.
A one-size-fits-all mandate may not prevent the spread of contagious
illnesses, like the H1N1 virus, but will certainly be burdensome for
small businesses. NFIB is educating small business owners via our Web
site and through cooperation with Federal agencies (for example, at
http://www.nfib.com/business-resources/business-resources-item/cmsid/
50072/ and http://www.nfib.com/small-business-legal-center/compliance-
resource-center/compliance-resource-item/cmsid/49902/). After all,
small businesses cannot afford to lose employees to any illness and
small employers make every effort to accommodate their workers' leave
requests. According to the NFIB 2004 Small Business Poll on Family and
Medical Leave, 82 percent of small employers handle family and medical
leave requests on a case-by-case basis, and 95 percent granted the most
recent request for short-term leave for important personal matters.
This type of flexibility is essential for small businesses.
Unfortunately, the proposed mandate's vague language would impinge upon
the employer's ability to offer flexible leave policies for his/her
workers, creating more hurdles for small business. This is especially
harmful as our economy continues in its struggle to recover.
The proposal severely lacks clear guidance regarding employee
classification, compensation, the definition of ``illness'' and how it
impacts current policies and requirements. Despite the inclusion of a
``sunset'' provision, history assures us that this will be anything but
temporary. And although the bill attempts to provide a safe harbor for
firms with fewer than 15 employees, the language does not clearly
define the terms of coverage for part-time employees, temporary or
contract employees. It also does not take into account Paid Time Off
plans or make clear the requirements for disqualification from the safe
harbor provision. Under the Family Medical Leave Act, employees need a
certificate from a doctor stating that they can return to work
following an illness. There is no similar provision in this bill,
forcing the employer to play doctor. As a result, it is unclear whether
the employer will be held liable should they not demand that an
employee go home at the first possible sign of illness.
The mandate is clear, however, in dissuading employers from hiring
more than 15 employees. This proposal will make it more difficult for
small firms to expand and create jobs. Small business owners will delay
creating jobs or expanding their business when faced with additional
Federal mandates. At a time when unemployment hovers at 10 percent, now
is not the time to discourage small businesses--America's job
creators--from creating new jobs. According to NFIB's Small Business
Economic Trends (SBET) survey, small business owners continue to have a
negative view of the economy, although their optimism has risen
slightly each month since the lowest point reported, in March 2009. In
the last 3 months, 8 percent of small business owners increased
employment, but 19 percent reduced employment (seasonally adjusted).
NFIB strongly believes that small business owners should be free to
create policies that work best for their employees and their business--
especially given current economic conditions.
NFIB opposes paid sick leave mandates in general and we oppose H.R.
3991, Emergency Influenza Containment Act, which was recently
introduced in the House of Representatives.
Sincerely,
Susan Eckerly,
Senior Vice President, Public Policy.
______
National Small Business Association (NSBA),
November 24, 2009.
Hon. Chris Dodd, Chairman,
Senate HELP Committee, Children and Families Subcommittee,
428 Dirksen Senate Office Building,
Washington, DC 20510.
Hon. Lamar Alexander, Ranking Member,
Senate HELP Committee, Children and Families Subcommittee,
428 Dirksen Senate Office Building,
Washington, DC 20510.
Dear Chairman Dodd and Ranking Member Alexander: On behalf of the
National Small Business Association (NSBA), I am writing to provide
comments for the Nov. 10 hearing, ``The Cost of Being Sick: H1N1 and
Paid Sick Leave.'' The following comments focus on proposed H1N1 sick
leave policies, suggested roles for the Federal Government to address
the H1N1 flu season, and efforts already underway by small businesses
to ensure a healthy workforce.
NSBA is the Nation's oldest small-business advocacy group
representing employers in every State. As an organization, we represent
all sectors and industries of the U.S. economy from retail to trade to
technology--our members are as diverse as the economy which they fuel.
More than one in two people in the U.S. private workforce--an estimated
70 million--work for or run a small business, according to data from
the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy and U.S.
Census Bureau. Small business comprises 99.7 of all U.S. private
employers, or 29.6 million businesses, and creates more than half of
U.S. gross domestic product.
There is no doubt that H1N1, or swine flu, is a potential threat to
our Nation's small businesses. The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention have acknowledged that flu activity is widespread in 48
States. The CDC also notes a significant increase in flu-related
hospitalizations and deaths thus far this year vis-a-vis this time last
year. NSBA shares the goals of employers, employees, and the government
in protecting the workforce and the public from the impact of H1N1.
However, current proposed sick leave policies would do more harm than
good for small businesses, their employees, and their families; thus,
Congress must take a deliberative approach in developing a Federal
Government role in combating the impact of H1N1 that does not implement
costly, unfunded mandates on small employers.
house and senate proposed legislation for hini paid sick leave
Currently, the only Federal law providing employee leave is the
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which requires employers with 50
or more employees to provide unpaid leave to eligible workers meeting
certain requirements. FMLA provides employees who meet these
requirements up to 12 work weeks a year of job-protected, unpaid leave.
Anticipated H1N1 paid sick leave legislation would fundamentally alter
the nature of employee leave policy that has existed since 1993 to the
detriment of small businesses.
Representative George Miller introduced the Emergency Influenza
Containment Act of 2009 (H.R. 3991), which would require employers who
send employees home, or tell them to stay home due to symptoms of a
contagious illness, or because they have been in close contact with a
person who has a contagious illness, to pay the employees sick leave
for each workday the employee is out of work, up to a maximum of 5 work
days during a 12-month period. The bill would apply to any employer
with more than 15 employees, and to all full- and part-time employees.
The act would take effect 15 days after it is signed into law and would
expire in 2 years.
Indications from the Nov. 10 hearing and Chairman Dodd's office
note that he will be introducing similar legislation with significant
modifications, including a provision that would provide 7 paid sick
days instead of 5 for employees to take leave for ``flu-like symptoms,
medical diagnosis or preventive care, to care for a sick child, or to
care for a child whose school or child care facility has been closed
due to the spread of flu.'' In addition, the discretion on the need for
sick leave would be left to the employee, although medical
certification could be required through regulation by the Department of
Labor.
In lieu of implementing costly mandates on small businesses in the
form of required sick leave, Congress should consider other areas of
Federal support to employees and employers that do not put restrictive,
nationalized, one-size-fits-all standards on small businesses. In
addition, Congress should recognize and account for small businesses'
existing paid time off (PTO) programs and workplace flexibility
initiatives that are already under way before hastily passing
legislation without proper deliberation.
FEDERAL SUPPORT
Despite the clear signs of a pending pandemic that emerged in
spring 2009, our public health infrastructure is insufficiently meeting
the needs of our society. Only certain individuals have had access to
H1N1 vaccinations, and even those often waited hours in line to get
vaccinated. While vaccination production and distribution have improved
in recent weeks, individuals that are outside of the ``high-risk''
populations--many of which work for small businesses--remain vulnerable
in the early stages of this year's flu season.
There are more suitable and efficient Federal public policies to
pursue rather than mandated sick leave. First, greater focus and
attention should be paid to the education and preparation for the flu
season. Publicizing personal hygiene best practices and other public
health-related information can go a long way to prevent the spread of
H1N1 in the workplace. NSBA has been working to provide this kind of
critical information to our members via our Web site for the past
several months. Second, the Federal Government has a direct role in
ensuring that the public health infrastructure is prepared and capable
to meet the needs of our society. Timely vaccinations for small-
business employees and their families can shield them from the impact
and spread of contagious diseases. Small businesses should not have to
pay the price for the Federal Government's inability to protect the
public through our public health system.
FLEXIBILITY AND PAID TIME OFF
In the wake of the current economic recession, small businesses
need to maintain flexibility in order to survive, grow and provide
jobs. In addition, small employers are already taking steps to address
the potential impact of H1N1 on employees and their families. Many
employers are addressing H1N1 threats by considering workplace
flexibility options, including telecommuting, job sharing, schedule
changes, shift swapping and other PTO arrangements for employee's own
illness or to care for ill family members.
Proponents of paid sick leave proposals often cite the lack of
dedicated paid sick leave benefits offered to employees as the impetus
to pass Federal legislation. However, this data does not take into
account the flexible benefit arrangements small businesses design to
meet the needs of their business, their employees, and there families,
including the PTO benefit arrangement. In fact, the vast majority of
employers voluntarily offer generous paid leave benefits. According to
the Department of Labor, 82 percent of private employers currently
offer some form of paid leave to their workforce. Nevertheless, PTO
does not account for the individual by individual agreements that
small-business owners frequently make with their employees to
accommodate each parties' needs.
More importantly, NSBA recently provided comments to a Senate work
group on workplace flexibility, and is strongly supportive of their
efforts to develop consensus-based, bipartisan solutions that work for
both employers and employees. Flexible scheduling can ease the burden
of unpredictable illness of employees and family members, and PTO can
undermine the potential for abuse of dedicated paid sick leave
policies.
CONCLUSION
Similar to any other flu season, small-business employers are
sensitive to the threats of H1N1. In fact, the old cliche of small-
business owners and their employees being a family is never truer than
in times of an employee's ill-health. An employer's greatest asset is
their employees, and it doesn't take a public health official to tell a
small-business owner that the flu can spread and cripple their
business. There are pragmatic solutions to address the threats
presented by H1N1, but the current paid sick leave proposals are not
the answer.
With so much economic pressure on the shoulders of our Nation's
small businesses, it is unfathomable that Congress would consider
legislation mandating additional costly requirements on small
businesses. Proposed H1N1 sick leave mandates comes on top of 10
percent unemployment rates and economic challenges that, in combination
with mandated sick leave, pose dire consequences for the job-creation
role of small businesses.
NSBA looks forward to the opportunity to work with you so as to
explore policy alternatives to the currently proposed sick leave
policies. Meanwhile, NSBA welcomes the opportunity to work with you in
continuing our role of educating small-business owners, their
employees, and their families in preparation for the pending flu
season.
Sincerely,
Todd O. McCracken,
President.
______
Response to Questions of Senator Dodd by Seth Harris
Question 1. The Federal Government, through the CDC, has issued
several important guidances to employers for utilization during the
H1N1 pandemic. These guidances generally encourage employers to be
flexible in their leave policies and permit workers to stay home
without risking their jobs. While some employers have adjusted their
leave policies, many haven't--and unfortunately many of those employ
low-income workers who are least likely to have access to paid leave to
begin with. Many people argue that employers are capable of addressing
their employees' needs and the Federal Government does not have a role
to play here. Why is it not enough to encourage employers to be
flexible in their leave policies? Why is further direction from the
Federal Government needed?
Answer 1. The Department applauds the efforts of responsible
employers who adjust their leave policies in response to the public
health threat of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic; however, not all employers
have heeded the CDC guidance and many workers have only unpaid leave
available to them.\1\ Since only 49 percent of low-wage workers have
access to paid sick leave or personal leave or family leave or
vacation, unpaid leave may provide job security but not the income they
must have to keep paying for basic necessities. Low-wage workers cannot
afford to go unpaid even for a few days, and therefore will go to work
when they are sick--infecting others and spreading disease.
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\1\ New York Times ``Lack of Paid Sick Days May Worsen Flu
Pandemic'' November 2, 2009; Washington Post ``H1N1 exposes weak leave
policies'' November 9, 2009; CNNMoney.com ``Swine flu--and no paid sick
leave'' October 4, 2009; AP ``Millions Without Sick Leave Fear Swine
Flu'' November 1, 2009; AP ``Swine Flu or Not, Many Workers Can't Stay
Home'' May 4, 2009; Christian Science Monitor'' Swine Flu: With No Paid
Sick Leave, Workers Won't Stay Home'' November 14, 2009.
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Further direction is needed because in spite of the guidance and
encouragement from the Federal Government, some workers did not have
access to the leave they needed during the 2009 H1N1 outbreak. In
addition, many workers do not have access to paid sick leave for
ordinary illnesses and injuries that are not a public health threat but
still can endanger their job or income.
Question 2. You mentioned in your testimony that several States and
cities in the United States have implemented either temporary
disability insurance programs or paid sick days laws. Has the
Department of Labor heard of any ill effects on employers that these
leave policies have imposed? Is a piecemeal, State-by-State or city-by-
city provision of paid sick days an effective or adequate way of
providing employees with the leave they and their families need?
Answer 2. I am not aware of any studies done on the impact of
temporary disability insurance (TDI) programs (other than the impact on
working parents regarding maternity leave) or paid sick leave laws on
employers in those States or cities that require them. It should be
noted that only the programs in Hawaii and Puerto Rico are funded by
employers, so the TDI programs in California, New Jersey, Rhode Island
and Washington would have no direct monetary impact on employers.
Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis' vision is Good Jobs for
Everyone. One of the key components of a good job is having workplace
flexibility for family and personal caregiving. The Department believes
that work-life balance is enhanced by policies such as paid leave and
must be available to all workers.
Question 3. My staff recently spoke with the owner of a restaurant
in West Hartford, CT who provides his employees with paid sick and
vacation time. This owner provides his employees with paid leave
because he says it increases morale, drastically reduces turnover,
saves his business money, and helps him maintain loyal customers. Some
argue that providing paid sick leave is detrimental to employers'
bottom lines. Is this true or is the restaurant owner in CT correct in
saying that this benefit can save businesses money? Can paid leave
benefit businesses?
Answer 3. We believe it is common sense and good business sense
that workers are able to stay home if they are ill without fear of
losing their job, and do not have to work when ill simply because they
do not have paid leave. Keeping employees with infectious illnesses
home can help businesses reduce the spread of illness in their
workplace and keep more employees working--which will help employers'
productivity. Some studies have found a relationship between work-life
benefits and positive employer outcomes although the Department is not
aware of any recent studies updating these findings.
Question 4. You said in your testimony that workers can jeopardize
their job security by having to stay home from work because they are
sick. Is this especially true during the current economic downturn? If
so, why is that?
Answer 4. Some employers have policies that penalize employees for
absences from work, resulting in some cases with the employee being
fired. The Department is not aware of any studies regarding changes to
these types of leave policies during economic downturns. Of course,
during an economic downturn with a high unemployment rate, it can be
harder for workers who are fired to find new jobs.
Question 5. The CDC guidances also tell workers and families not to
go to work if they are sick and to keep their children home from school
if their children are sick. Secretary Sebelius and Secretary Locke,
among others, have repeated these instructions. I have been listening
to these recommendations over the last several months and I can't help
but feel that they are ignoring what is a reality for far too many
workers--that many employees don't have the economic ability to take
time off of work without pay, and they don't have access to paid leave.
There seems to be a significant inconsistency between what the Federal
Government is telling employees will be most effective in slowing the
epidemic and what people are actually able to do. Do you agree that
this discrepancy exists? Would the Healthy Families Act help to fill
this gap?
Answer 5. We have not seen any studies yet quantifying the number
of employers who heeded the advice of Secretaries Sebelius, Locke and
Solis to allow workers with influenza-like illness to stay home and
away from the workplace. Even if some employers are providing leave to
their employees who are ill with the H1N1 virus, the Healthy Families
Act would ensure that many more employees could stay home when they are
sick without fear of losing their job or losing income.
Question 6. In your testimony you mentioned that DOL has been
working with other agencies on the H1N1 flu pandemic. Can you describe
this collaboration and why it is important on an issue such as this
one?
Answer 6. The Department strongly supports the interagency efforts
led by the White House and the Departments of Health and Human Services
and Homeland Security in responding to the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. DOL has
been involved since 2005 in the Federal planning to prepare our Nation
for a possible pandemic. All our efforts acknowledged that a severe
pandemic would have enormous human and economic consequences. DOL's
involvement ensured that choosing the right response, one that would
minimize the overall negative impact on our society, took into account
the specific effects on workers and workplaces. All Federal partners
brought similar program and policy expertise to the planning process so
that our guidance anticipated all possible consequences.
The release of the National Implementation Plan in 2005 was just
the start of the interagency work. Since then, DOL has been an integral
part of the ongoing planning efforts as well as the continual
assessment of Federal, State and local readiness. DOL's involvement in
developing the 2007 Community Strategy for Pandemic Influenza
Mitigation and in subsequent guidance documents ensured that policies
and plans that affected workplaces, and particularly the safety and
health of workers, was addressed. For example, DOL, along with the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, published FAQs on the
workplace issues to be considered by employers in writing and
implementing their pandemic plans. DOL's Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) also provided guidance to workers and employers
on how to keep workers safe and healthy during a pandemic. (see http://
www.osha.gov/dsg/topics/pandemicflu/index.html.)
With the onset of the 2009 H1N1 outbreak, DOL has worked very
closely with our partner agencies in helping our Nation respond to this
novel virus. We worked with CDC and others on the Guidance for
Businesses and Employers to Plan and Respond to the 2009-2010 Influenza
Season and released new resources specific to H1N1 (see http://
www.osha.gov/h1n1/index.html). Through the Federal Advisory Council on
Occupational Safety and Health (FACOSH), the Assistant Secretary for
OSHA who chairs FACOSH, convened a subcommittee of Federal agencies and
labor representatives to address the challenges of responding to the
2009 H1N1flu pandemic within the Federal community. FACOSH's
recommendations, which appear in its final report, ``Recommendations
for Consideration by the Secretary of Labor on Pandemic-H1N1 Influenza
Protection for the Federal Workforce,'' are being evaluated for further
action. This coordination has allowed the Federal agencies to speak
clearly and with one voice to help individuals, communities and
businesses respond quickly and effectively to this novel virus.
Response to Questions of Senator Dodd, Senator Reed, Senator Enzi
and Senator Hatch by Anne Schuchat
QUESTIONS OF SENATOR DODD
Question 1. Can you talk about what you expect to see happen with
H1N1 as we head into the traditional flu season? How is CDC preparing
for it?
Answer 1. It is possible that the pandemic will wane over time as
the season progresses. However, there are also possibilities for
worsening that we should consider as we head into the traditional flu
season: (1) Seasonal H3 influenza arrives in strength in the winter,
and (2) 2009 H1N1 influenza has increased activity. Either possibility
might occur alone, or together.
HHS' CDC has had systems in place to monitor changes in virus
circulation for many years including tracking of influenza-like
illness, geographic spread, hospitalizations and deaths due to
influenza, and changes in the virus itself that may make it more lethal
or resistant to antiviral medications. We also routinely track changes
in the relative circulation of influenza strains, and monitor for new
strains that may be different from the current vaccine strains. We have
enhanced these systems during the pandemic by augmenting our
relationships with State and local health departments in the area of
virus testing (subtype characterization and antiviral resistance
monitoring), expanding collaborative agreements with key medical
centers nationwide (identifying and tracking trends in disease
severity), increasing our interaction with laboratories across the
country (subtype monitoring), and adding a number of electronic data
sources to track illness spread, antiviral use, school closures, and
impact on communities.
Question 2. Dr. Schuchat, with respect to the response to this
pandemic, could you also talk about the level of coordination between
CDC/HHS and other Departments, especially the Department of Labor?
Answer 2. CDC/NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health) has coordinated with the Department of Labor (DOL)/Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on several matters related to
worker safety and health during the course of this pandemic, and DOL/
OSHA has been a partner with CDC in reaching out to labor unions to
keep them informed of CDC guidance related to worker safety and health.
In particular, OSHA played a significant role in the development of
HHS/CDC's interim infection control guidance for healthcare settings
for the 2009-2010 influenza season, as well as in the development of a
companion piece to this document which focused on strategies to
mitigate the impact of shortages of appropriate respiratory protection
for healthcare workers. OSHA has also been a partner with CDC/NIOSH on
a regular series of conference calls with a wide array of labor unions,
in which updates are provided about the current status of the pandemic,
and questions are fielded from the labor audience.
During the summer of 2009, CDC/NIOSH staff participated as subject
matter experts in the DOL/OSHA-sponsored Federal Advisory Council on
Occupational Safety and Health (FACOSH) emerging issues workgroup,
which was convened to review agency experience in protecting Federal
employees from 2009 H1N1 influenza. FACOSH advises the Secretary of
Labor on issues related to the occupational safety and health of the
Federal workforce. The workgroup gathered information from Federal
agencies and labor organizations representing Federal employees. It
also sought insight from technical experts who provided perspective on
the occupational safety and health-related gaps that exist in pandemic
planning within the Federal Government and provided recommendations for
the Secretary of Labor, including providing better all-around pandemic-
related training within Federal agencies and facilitating the
coordination of 2009 H1N1 influenza information to improve consistency
and clarity.
Question 3. In your testimony you mentioned what individuals can do
to prevent the spread of illness. What recommendations does the CDC
make to employers to help them limit the spread of H1N1? What specific
guidelines should child care facilities and schools use to prevent the
spread of H1N1?
Answer 3. In a guidance document titled, ``CDC Guidance for
Businesses and Employers To Plan and Respond to the 2009-2010 Influenza
Season,'' CDC outlines the measures which businesses can take to help
protect their workforce and to maintain business continuity during this
pandemic. The recommendations are framed for two scenarios: the first
aimed for pandemic conditions similar to those experienced during the
Spring wave of 2009 H1N1 influenza; and the second targeted for a
pandemic more severe, based on the level of illness typically caused by
the virus. Under current conditions, the guidance recommends that
businesses take the following steps to keep staff from getting sick
with the flu.
Ensure that sick workers stay home,
Monitor employees for illness and send sick workers home,
Practice good hand and cough hygiene,
Clean surfaces and items that are frequently touched by
many people,
Encourage employees to get vaccinated for both seasonal
and 2009 H1N1 influenza,
Take measures to protect employees who are at higher risk
for complications of influenza,
Make plans to maintain business continuity in the face of
rising absenteeism, and
Advise employees on proper measures to take when traveling
overseas.
Should pandemic conditions become more severe, based on increased
virulence of the 2009 H1N1 virus, further measures which CDC recommends
include:
Consider active screening of employees for illness,
Provide alternative work environments for employees at
higher risk of flu complications,
Increase social distancing in the workplace,
Cancel non-essential business travel, and
Prepare for the effects that school closures could have on
work absenteeism.
CDC recommends that schools and early childhood programs take the
following steps to help keep students, teachers, and staff from getting
sick with influenza. These steps should be followed all the time and
not only during a flu pandemic.
Encourage all school and early childhood program staff and
students to get vaccinated for seasonal flu and 2009 H1N1 flu.
Educate and encourage staff and students to cover their
mouth and nose with a tissue when they cough or sneeze and provide easy
access to tissues and trash cans. Teach children to cover coughs or
sneezes using their elbow instead of their hand when a tissue is not
available.
Remind staff and students to practice good hand hygiene
and provide the time and supplies for them to wash their hands with
soap and water as often as necessary. Help younger children wash their
hands properly and frequently.
Remind staff to stay home and parents to keep a sick child
at home when they have flu-like symptoms. Sick people should stay at
home until at least 24 hours after they no longer have a fever or signs
and symptoms of a fever (has chills, feels very warm to the touch, has
a flushed appearance, or is sweating) without the use of fever-reducing
medicine.
Send sick students, teachers, and staff home and advise
them and their families that sick people should stay at home until at
least 24 hours after they no longer have a fever or signs of a fever
(without the use of fever-reducing medicine). Early childhood program
staff should perform a daily health check of children and make sure
that contact information for parents is up-to-date so they can be
contacted if they need to pick up their sick child.
Move sick students and staff to a separate, but
supervised, space until they can be sent home. Limit the number of
staff who take care of the sick person and provide a surgical mask for
the sick person to wear if they can tolerate it. Have surgical masks
available for school nurses and others who care for sick people at the
school or early childhood program.
Routinely clean surfaces and items that children
frequently touch with their hands (or mouths in early childhood
programs) with the household disinfectant that is usually used,
following the directions on the product label. Additional disinfection
beyond routine cleaning is not recommended.
Encourage early medical evaluation for children and staff
at higher risk of complications from flu. They will benefit from early
treatment with antiviral medicines if they are sick with flu.
Stay in regular communication with local public health
officials. It may be necessary to temporarily close an early childhood
program or selectively dismiss a school with a large proportion of
children at higher risk for influenza complications if flu transmission
is high in the community. Local public health officials will also know
if the influenza starts to cause more severe disease, calling for
additional strategies to be implemented.
Question 4. The Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices
(ACIP) has identified children 6 months to adults 24 years of age to be
among the vaccine priority groups. Can you talk about the adequacy of
vaccines, equipment and other medications to treat children? Do you
believe that our Nation's emergency departments and emergency medical
personnel are adequately trained and equipped with proper medicines and
devices suitable for children?
Answer 4. We expect the 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine to have a
similar safety profile as seasonal flu vaccines, which have a very good
safety track record. Over the years, hundreds of millions of Americans
including children have received seasonal flu vaccines. HHS/CDC and
HHS' Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will be closely monitoring for
any signs that the vaccine is causing unexpected adverse events and we
will work with State and local health officials to investigate any
unusual events.
For pediatric patients the antiviral drugs available are Tamiflu
oral suspension and Tamiflu (30 mg and 45 mg) capsules. Relenza may
also be used for treatment of influenza for children 7 years of age and
older. There are adequate supplies of Tamiflu capsules and Relenza in
the commercial supply chain. There were limited supplies of Tamiflu
oral suspension available however, as of November 30, 2009, the
manufacturer of Tamiflu has announced they are increasing the supply of
Tamiflu pediatric oral suspension in the commercial supply chain. This
product is now being made available.
For children who are too young to use Relenza or who can not
swallow capsules, if commercial Tamiflu oral suspension product is not
available, pharmacies may compound Tamiflu suspension using adult
capsules. In addition, Tamiflu 30 and 45 mg capsules may be mixed into
a sweetened liquid by a caregiver.
The training of personnel for management of infectious patients
should not be very different between adult and pediatric care. Compared
with training and equipment, staffing and space limitations are likely
to be more challenging in these settings. In case of shortages in
resources, HHS/CDC's Strategic National Stockpile contains supplies,
equipment, and medications to support children as well as adults should
there be a need to supplement locally available resources.
Question 5. When it comes to the H1N1 virus, what are the biggest
challenges you hear from employers? Schools? State and local public
health departments?
Employers
Answer 5. In the Spring when the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus first
emerged, the biggest challenge for employers was adapting their
pandemic plans to a pandemic that was milder than most plans had
anticipated. Additionally, employers found that the WHO pandemic
phases, which were planned to be utilized as triggers for further
actions, were not actionable based on actual pandemic conditions. In
response to these concerns and the key roles that businesses play in
protecting the health of the workforce, CDC issued guidance for
businesses and employers, encouraging them to develop pandemic plans
that are flexible and sensitive to changes in the pandemic severity.
Businesses and employers needed specific guidance regarding measures to
use and advice on the timing of their implementation. In August, CDC
updated that guidance and included recommendations for both the current
level severity of pandemic and a more severe pandemic scenario.
Schools
Since the beginning of the pandemic in Spring of 2009, schools have
been concerned with decreasing exposure to regular seasonal flu and
2009 H1N1 flu, implementing school closure guidance where necessary,
and mitigating the effects that can come with closure. The decision to
dismiss students should be made locally and should balance the goal of
reducing the number of people who become seriously ill or die from
influenza with the goal of minimizing social disruption and safety
risks to children sometimes associated with school dismissal. While
dismissal can be an effective means of decreasing the spread of disease
in a community, it can also lead to negative consequences, including
interruption of students' education, students being left home alone,
workers missing shifts when they must stay home with their children,
and low-income students missing free or reduced price meals.
State and Local Health Departments
One of the biggest challenges we hear about from State and local
public health officials is vaccine availability and the impact that it
has had on State and local vaccination planning efforts. Many State and
local health departments have reported that demand for vaccine has been
greater than vaccine supply in their jurisdictions. In addition,
challenges related to the limited ability to project future vaccine
supply as well as concerns about inaccurate or unpredictable vaccine
allotment numbers have complicated State and local long-term planning
efforts. State and local public health departments are concerned about
their ability to sustain very high workload due to the pandemic while
maintaining the ability to respond to other public health events in
their jurisdictions. The State laboratories have been especially
impacted by the demand for testing for the 2009 H1N1 virus. Other
challenges include additional personnel needs, particularly for
administrative, vaccinator, and support staff personnel. A related
challenge is the need for improved hiring processes to address
recruiting difficulties. State and local health officials also have
indicated a desire for more streamlined data collection and reporting
requirements.
QUESTIONS OF SENATOR REED
Question. I am deeply worried that Rhode Islanders, especially
those at high risk of contracting H1N1 influenza, will not have access
to adequate protection. In addition to the 160,631 doses of ANTIVIRALS
that will be provided to Rhode Island at no cost to the State, the CDC
recommended that the Rhode Island purchase an additional 112,981 doses
of the H1N1 vaccine in order to immunize residents. The Federal
Government offered to subsidize 25 percent of the cost of purchasing
these additional doses. However, the current economy has hit Rhode
Island particularly hard, and the State was only able to allocate
sufficient resources for the purchase of 38,849 additional doses.
Similarly, due to the State's budgetary constraints, I have heard
concerns that there will be inadequate levels of personnel to staff
preparedness activities and respond to the surge in illness. How does
the CDC plan to address the need for additional vaccines and personnel
in States that have been hardest hit by the current economy, and, as
such, unable to adequately prepare to protect residents from the H1N1
influenza?
Answer. HHS pandemic influenza preparedness plans includes having
enough antiviral drugs to treat 25 percent of the U.S. population (75
million courses) with additional product available to support
containment efforts (6 million courses). The goal is for the Federal
Government to procure 50 million courses of antiviral drugs, and for
project areas to procure 31 million courses which would be made
available for purchase of HHS subsidized contracts. Of the 31 million
courses, approximately 25.5 million courses have been procured by
project areas.
In the spring, approximately 11 million regimens of antiviral drugs
were deployed from the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) to the 62
project areas. We understand that there was only modest use of this
product at the State level. Thirteen million regimens of antiviral
drugs were purchased to replenish the SNS assets deployed and have been
incorporated into SNS inventory over the summer. HHS has also made an
additional purchase of 16 million regimens of antiviral drugs that are
anticipated to be delivered through February 2010 into SNS inventory,
offsetting the gap that is present in State stockpiles (5.5 million
regimens).
Release of additional SNS antiviral drugs to States is determined
based on multiple factors including disease progression, demand for
product, and changes in product supply (commercially and within State
stockpiles).
Furthermore, all 2009 H1N1 vaccine is being purchased by HHS at no
cost to the States, local health departments or other vaccinators.
CDC has taken several steps to help alleviate State and local 2009
H1N1 staffing needs, including temporarily assigning Federal staff to
State and local health departments to provide support of State and
local 2009 H1N1 response activities on a short-term basis. These
temporary 2009 H1N1 field staff augment existing Federal field staff
already fully involved in the 2009 H1N1 pandemic response, including
preparedness and immunization field staff, career Epidemiology Field
Officers, and Epidemic Intelligence Service officers. CDC will consider
the requests based on Federal staff availability to meet anticipated
needs.
In addition, CDC's 2009 H1N1 Public Health Emergency Response
(PHER) grant funds may be used to hire State personnel needed for 2009
H1N1 response activities. Of the 62 PHER awardees, 40 reported spending
an estimated $15.7 million on personnel and fringe benefits through
October 31, 2009. These funds paid in part or in full for 3,944
positions. The majority of personnel hired were nurses (38 percent),
vaccine administrators (10 percent), and preparedness and response
specialists (7 percent). An additional 20 percent of personnel
expenditures supported ``other'' positions, including support staff,
translators, data collection/entry personnel, contract nurses and call
center support staff.
Last, PHER funds may be used to support more long-term State and
local health department staff. Many awardees already have requested
direct assistance positions, for which CDC is currently in the process
of recruiting and hiring.
QUESTIONS OF SENATOR ENZI
Question 1. We continue to hear reports about schools closing
across the country. Can you describe the vaccination programs at public
schools? How many or what proportion of schools have vaccination
programs? For those schools without vaccination programs, do they have
plans to refer students and parents to local clinics that have access
to the H1N1? What are we doing to assist the schools that have closed
to vaccinate the children when they return or when they are at home
because of the closing? Finally, when you calculate the allocation of
vaccine that you distribute to communities, do you include in that
calculation the schools in that community?
Answer 1. During the week of November 23, 2009, there were no
school closings reported to the CDC. There is no national program to
vaccinate children through schools, although CDC has posted materials
to assist State and local health departments with their programs at
(http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/slv/). Because CDC does not
collect data nationally on the number of schools that participate in
such programs, there is not a mechanism to describe the proportion of
schools offering vaccination programs. There is also no way to
determine, at least on a national level, whether or not schools are
referring students and parents to local clinics where the 2009 H1N1
vaccine is being offered. Since every State varies in its approach to
vaccine distribution, there is no comprehensive mechanism to collect
this type of information.
The 2009 H1N1 vaccine is allocated on a pro rata basis. Once
allocated to project areas, there may be State and local decisions to
further distribute vaccine on the basis of the number of school
clinics. Again, each project area varies in its approach to vaccine
allocation.
Question 2. In light of the barriers that have been exposed with
the H1N1, including our country's limited capacity to produce flu
vaccine and the impact of not approving adjuvants in the flu vaccine,
what specific steps will the Administration take to better prepare our
country for the next flu pandemic?
Answer 2. HHS is in the third year of implementing a comprehensive
program to better prepare our country for the next influenza pandemic.
This program supports the advanced development of improved influenza
vaccines using both cell-based and recombinant and molecular
technologies to produce vaccines that are not dependent on egg
supplies. The advanced development program also supports the
development of adjuvant technologies so they may be licensed for use
with influenza vaccines in the coming years and be available as
licensed vaccine for use during the next influenza pandemic.
This program supports the building and expansion of domestic
manufacturing infrastructure for influenza vaccine production. HHS
supported the construction of the first U.S. cell-based facility that
opened on November 24, 2009 and is expected to be operational by 2011,
producing a significant portion of the U.S. pandemic vaccine needs
within 6 months of the onset. HHS also has plans to support the
construction of a second facility for production of cell-based or
recombinant influenza vaccine with similar manufacturing surge
capacity. Further, the domestic infrastructure program supported the
expansion and upgrade of existing egg-based vaccine facilities in the
United States.
Last, this program supports stockpiling of pre-pandemic H5N1
vaccine antigens and adjuvants. These stockpiles of antigens and
adjuvants will allow the United States to more rapidly respond to an
emerging pandemic by using these stockpiles to produce vaccines for an
initial response.
Question 3. The United States has historically low flu vaccinations
rates. What is the Administration doing to improve these rates? How are
you expanding public awareness about the different types of vaccines
and why it is important for certain populations to be vaccinated?
Answer 3. The objective of the 2009-2010 influenza vaccination
communication campaign is to support the public health goal of
protecting as many people as possible from both seasonal influenza and
2009 H1N1 flu, with minimal social and economic disruptions. The
primary goals of the 2009 influenza vaccination communications efforts
are to provide timely and accurate information about the Federal
influenza and pneumococcal vaccination recommendations, the benefits
and risks of vaccination, and information about vaccine supply that
helps individuals protect themselves and their families from influenza,
including helping them make vaccine choices.
A crucial element of the combined 2009 H1N1 and the 2009-2010
seasonal influenza communications campaign involves engaging key
stakeholders to help support and further vaccination messages. These
stakeholders, including healthcare workers, pharmacists, employers,
labor organizations and colleges and universities, are integral in
furthering CDC's recommendations and disseminating these messages to as
many people as possible. Working in concert with its traditional public
health partners, we are also utilizing other outreach mechanisms to
spread the word about influenza vaccines.
We have developed various print products, social media, and audio/
video tools available in English, Spanish, and additional languages.
Products include messages for both seasonal and 2009 H1N1 influenza.
Print products include posters, flyers, brochures, and fact sheets,
like Vaccine Information Statements. Social media products and
activities include web banners, buttons, and badges that enable
partners and external organizations to provide a link back to CDC on
their Web site, a weekly blog on WebMD, and webinars for bloggers. We
also are employing audio and video tools such as public service
announcements (PSAs), podcasts and videos. These are available for
State and local public health partners to use in healthcare settings.
New information and materials are posted regularly on flu.gov and
cdc.gov/h1n1flu.
HHS/CDC is producing messages and materials for all of the groups
recommended for seasonal and 2009 H1N1 flu vaccines, as well as
messages for the general public, including hard-to-reach populations.
However, because we know that the 2009 H1N1 virus affects certain
population groups more severely than others, we have crafted targeted
communication to reach those at the highest risk. For example, pregnant
women, parents of children aged 18 and under, and adults ages 25
through 64 years. We have also created plain language materials and
products tailored for specific ethnic and racial groups.
CDC is conducting outreach to health care providers through
multiple channels to educate them on the importance of vaccination
among their patients and to help address the challenge of low
vaccination rates among health care personnel. Some examples of this
outreach include a teleconference with leaders from the Nation's
healthcare provider and healthcare personnel organizations and HHS
Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and a partnership with Medscape to produce
a weekly video series to provide updated information to physicians,
nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals.
CDC has invited minority media outlets, particularly African-
American and Hispanic media to hear from experts about the seriousness
of the seasonal flu virus and 2009 H1N1 influenza virus, as well as to
learn the importance of receiving both immunizations. Agenda topics for
these briefings have included: flu season overview, importance of
vaccinations, impact of influenza on specific ethnic and minority
populations especially children, prevention and treatment, perspectives
and attitudes of these specific populations. There is also time
allotted for open discussion and one-on-one interviews, as requested.
Question 4. The Administration projected that the United States
would have access to 80-120 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine by mid-
October, but we all know that those goals were way off the mark. In
your opinion, do you think that it would have been possible to produce
that many vaccines within the timeframe that was given to
manufacturers?
Answer 4. Theoretically it would have been possible to produce the
projected number of doses within the targeted time period. However, the
realities of production posed unanticipated and unforeseeable delays.
Potential production delays such as manufacturers changing delivery
schedules due to country prioritization, extremely low production
yields, prolonged seasonal influenza vaccine manufacturing campaigns,
and day-to-day logistical and production line problems were not
incorporated into our projections. These vaccine production capacity
numbers were developed in July 2009.
HHS has been transparent throughout the process, providing
estimates and projections of vaccine manufacturing capacity
availability based on our most current knowledge of vaccine delivery
logistics and information from vaccine manufacturers, with the
necessary caveats that vaccine manufacturing has numerous variables,
many of which are inherent in the science of the virus and beyond our
control. Changes in projections reflected delays in vaccine
availability and not reductions in the total amount that will be
available.
Development of the 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine began in late May
2009 when the five U.S.-licensed manufacturers received virus reference
strains from CDC and began making virus seed stocks. Commercial scale
manufacturing of the vaccine began in late June to early July. The U.S.
Government began receiving shipments of vaccine in late September with
shipments expected every week at least through January 2010.
QUESTIONS OF SENATOR HATCH
Question 1. The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development
Authority (BARDA) was set up to provide incentives for companies to
manufacture new products that could aid the United States in responding
to biological, chemical and radiological threats. This mechanism helps
companies bear the costs associated with moving products through the
research and development pipeline by assisting with that financial
burden. This system has worked well for incenting new products but was
not intended for existing products or technology. The current pandemic
has highlighted the uncertainties.
Answer 1. The success of our response to a Public Health Emergency
depends most of all on medical countermeasures for treatment and
prevention of disease to help reduce the spread of infections, reduce
health consequences, and ultimately save lives.
Secretary Sebelius has asked the Assistant Secretary for
Preparedness and Response to lead a review of its entire public health
and emergency medical countermeasures enterprise, to be completed in
the first quarter of 2010. The goal of this review is a modernized
countermeasure production process that promotes promising discoveries,
more advanced development, more robust manufacturing, better
stockpiling, and more advanced distribution practices.
The U.S.-pandemic preparedness strategy for establishing a domestic
manufacturing surge capacity to produce sufficient pandemic vaccine for
the entire United States within 6 months of pandemic onset involves an
integrated approach utilizing vaccine development and U.S.-based
manufacturing facility building. Advanced development of new influenza
vaccines using tissue culture, recombinant DNA, and molecular
technologies is the foundation for providing more flexible, robust, and
less-vulnerable ways to manufacture influenza vaccines. Further,
advanced development of antigen-sparing technologies for existing and
new influenza vaccines using adjuvants provides opportunities to expand
the vaccine manufacturing base multifold at different points towards
the final surge capacity goal. Coupling the enhancement of existing
U.S.-based manufacturing facilities that produce egg-based influenza
vaccines with the building of new domestic facilities that will
manufacture
cell-, recombinant-, or molecular-based influenza vaccines is the
natural extension to vaccine advanced development and should achieve
the U.S.-pandemic vaccine surge capacity goal.
The seeds planted since the investments were initiated in 2006 have
thus far generated the trees that will bear fruit in the next several
years. Specifically, the HHS cell-based influenza vaccine program
supports the advanced development of six cell-based programs. Two of
these vaccines are nearing completion of final clinical testing and are
expected to seek U.S.-licensure in 2010-11. One of these two companies
has started to build a plant for the production of cell-based vaccines
here in the United States with assistance from HHS. This facility may
be available for vaccine production in less than 2 years in a pandemic
emergency. Other cell-based vaccine candidates are earlier in the
development pipeline.
In June 2009, HHS made its first award for advanced development of
a recombinant vaccine. Recombinant and molecular technologies do not
depend on the ability to grow the virus in an egg or a cell to
manufacture vaccine and thus may be available much sooner after
pandemic onset. It is projected that this first program will be
licensed for use in the United States in 3 years. A second request for
proposals (RFP) was released in September 2009 to support additional
recombinant and molecular influenza vaccine candidates; multiple
proposals were received for review and contract awards are expected
early in 2010.
In early 2007 HHS made awards for three antigen-sparing technology
programs. These technologies reduce the amount of vaccine needed to
vaccinate a person and thus increase the total supply. These
technologies are in late stage of development with 2009 H1N1 vaccines
and are expected to seek U.S.-licensure in 2010.
Additional influenza vaccine manufacturing facilities in the United
States would augment existing and nearly completed influenza vaccine
manufacturing facilities implementing new cell-, recombinant-, or
molecular-based technologies and is consistent with HHS' pandemic
influenza preparedness activities. HHS plans to issue RFPs in 2010 to
support the construction of a new cell-based manufacturing facility in
the United States and to expand the domestic fill-finish vaccine
manufacturing network.
Additionally, new vaccine production technologies and technologies
that expedite the vaccine production and delivery process will be
pursued, such as new and faster ways to measure how vaccine potency,
which will provide better estimates of vaccine production.
Together, these programs of advanced development and building
domestic manufacturing infrastructure will enable the United States to
meet its pandemic preparedness vaccine goals in the next 3 years.
Response to Questions of Senator Dodd and Senator Enzi by Debra Ness
QUESTIONS OF SENATOR DODD
Question 1. Some critics have expressed concern about the impact
that passing a bill like the Healthy Families Act would have on
American businesses and our global economic competitiveness. However,
you testified in opposition to that claim. What do both international
experiences and our early experiences with the San Francisco paid leave
ordinance tell us about the impact that the Healthy Families Act would
have on businesses and our Nation's economic competitiveness?
Answer 1. Based on research on international experiences and early
experiences with the San Francisco paid sick days ordinance, we
conclude that the availability of paid sick time does not negatively
impact economic competitiveness and employment.\1\
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\1\ Earle, Alison and Jody. Heymann. 2006. ``A Comparative Analysis
of Paid Leave for the Health Needs of Workers and their Families Around
the World.'' Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis. 2006; 8 (3): 241-
257.
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The U.S. lags far behind other countries in paid sick day
standards. In fact, a global consensus exists around the guarantee of
job-protected paid sick days: 163 nations guarantee paid leave for
workers to recover from their own health conditions. The United States
and the Republic of Korea are the only industrialized nations that lack
a standard of paid sick days.\2\
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\2\ Heymann, Jody. Raising the Global Floor. 2009.
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The World Economic Forum, which brings together the top business
leaders from around the world, ranks the most competitive national
economies. The United States is alone among the 20 most competitive
countries in not guaranteeing workers paid sick days. Eighteen of these
countries provide 31 or more sick days with pay. In fact, the countries
which are most economically competitive are more likely to guarantee
paid sick days for employees' own health and to care for the health
needs of children and adult family members. According to the
researchers, by guaranteeing paid sick days, these nations are
guaranteeing a healthy workforce, which is essential to competition.\3\
\4\
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\3\ Heymann J., A. Earle, & J. Hayes. (2007). The Work, Family, &
Equity Index: How Does the United States Measure Up?. Boston/Montreal:
Project on Global Working Families. www.mcgill.ca/files/ihsp/
WFEIFinal2007.pdf.
\4\ Earle A. & J. Heymann. (2006). A comparative analysis of paid
leave for the health needs of workers and their families around the
world. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis 8(3):241-257.
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While San Francisco became the first jurisdiction in the United
States to guarantee workers paid sick days in 2007, their early
experiences have been similar to those internationally. Economic
indicators do not show that San Francisco's paid sick days law had an
adverse affect on the city's economy. In fact, in the 12-month period
following the effective date of the policy, employment in San Francisco
expanded by 1.1 percent, the same rate as neighboring Marin and San
Mateo counties and substantially above the rate of employment change in
Alameda, Contra Costa and Santa Clara counties.
According to a statement to the House Education and Labor
Committee's Subcommittee on Workforce Protections by Donna Levitt,
Manager of San Francisco's Office of Labor Standards Enforcement:
``I am not aware of any employers in San Francisco who have
reduced staff or made any other significant changes in their
business as a result of the sick leave ordinance. While San
Francisco, like every community, has suffered in the current
recession, to my knowledge no employers have cited the sick
leave requirement as a reason for closing or reducing their
business operations in the city.'' \5\
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\5\ Donna Levitt, Statement for the Record to the House
Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, 6/25/2009.
Question 2. Has the FMLA been unduly burdensome on employers to
implement?
Answer 2. No; in fact, the FMLA has demonstrated conclusively that
family-friendly workplace policies are good for businesses as well as
good for workers and families. Since 1993, workers have used the FMLA
more than 100 million times to take the unpaid time off that they need
to care for themselves or their families, without sacrificing their
jobs and long-term economic stability.\6\ During the efforts to pass
the FMLA, advocates withstood, and overcame, relentless scare tactics
from businesses that claimed the law would be the end of them. Over 15
years later, the FMLA is well established, and businesses have
flourished with it in place. Data from the most recent national
research on it, conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor, show that
the vast majority of employers in this country report that complying
with the FMLA has a positive/neutral effect on productivity (83
percent), profitability (90 percent), growth (90 percent), and employee
morale (90 percent).\7\ The act benefits employers in numerous ways,
most notably from the savings derived from retaining trained employees,
from productive workers on the job, and from a positive work
environment.
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\6\ Dept. of Labor. The Family and Medical Leave Act Regulations:
A Report on the Department of Labor's Request for Information 2007
Update at 129. We based this estimate on multiplying the Employer
Survey Based Estimate by 15. Unfortunately, the data we have on FMLA
leave use is quickly becoming out of date. The Dept. of Labor last
surveyed employers and employees on the FMLA in 2000. Since then, the
Dept. has not conducted any national survey on the FMLA. The Department
needs to conduct scientifically sound survey research on the FMLA so
that policy decisions can be made based on that information, rather
than on selected employers' complaints.
\7\ Dept. of Labor. FMLA Survey Report. 2000. www.dol.gov/whd/fmla/
chapter6.htm.
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The Department of Labor agrees that the FMLA is working well.
According to its 2007 Report:
Department is pleased to observe that, in the vast majority of
cases, the FMLA is working as intended. For example, the FMLA
has succeeded in allowing working parents to take leave for the
birth or adoption of a child, and in allowing employees to care
for family members with serious health conditions. The FMLA
also appears to work well when employees require block or
foreseeable intermittent leave because of their own truly
serious health condition. Absent the protections of the FMLA,
many of these workers might not otherwise be permitted to be
absent from their jobs when they need to be.\8\
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\8\ Dept. of Labor.2007 Report.
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QUESTIONS OF SENATOR ENZI
Question 3. The Healthy Families Act covers small employers that
employ 15 or more employees. This is a much lower threshold than the
Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), which set a 50 employees
threshold. As we heard from Ms. O'Brien's testimony, the FMLA has been
extremely burdensome to administer for the employers it governs. Now,
you are advocating multiplying that burden and extending it to more
than 600,000 new employers who may not have sophisticated HR
departments. Why is it appropriate to include employers who are
exempted from the FMLA?
Answer 3. The Healthy Families Act uses an employer-size threshold
different from the FMLA because its scope and purpose is entirely
different. The FMLA provides unpaid, job-protected leave for up to 12
weeks a year to care for a newborn, newly adopted or foster child, to
care for a seriously ill family member, or to recover from an
employee's own serious illness. The Healthy Families Act offers leave
that is for a much shorter time--7 days. The FMLA does not address many
workers' day-to-day health needs. FMLA coverage for illnesses is
limited to serious, longer-term illnesses and the effects of long-term
chronic conditions. The law does not offer time off to workers to deal
with common illnesses that do not meet the FMLA standard of ``serious''
or for routine medical visits for themselves and their families. The
Healthy Families Act aims to offer leave for common, short-term illness
like the cold or the flu.
Unlike the FMLA, the need for paid sick days is largely based on
public health concerns: to prevent the spread of contagious illness
within our workplaces, schools and communities. Workers in jobs that
involve the most interaction with the public are among those least
likely to have paid sick days. Only 22 percent of food and public
accommodation workers have any paid sick days, for example. Workers in
child care centers, retail clerks, and nursing homes also
disproportionately lack paid sick days.\9\ To fulfill the purpose of
safeguarding public health, a 15-employee threshold makes more sense
than a larger, 50-employee threshold, which would exempt 40 percent of
the workforce. Any higher threshold for the Healthy Families Act would
be tantamount to creating holes in mosquito netting.
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\9\ Vicky Lovell. Institute of Women's Policy Research. Valuing
Good Health: An Estimate of Costs and Savings for the Healthy Families
Act, 2005.
Question 4. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated
that this bill will cost private employers $11.4 billion over 5 years.
A substantial amount of that will fall on smaller employers that are
already struggling to make payroll in these difficult economic times.
Indeed, as we can see from the current 10.2 percent unemployment rate,
many are not able to maintain current payrolls. If this bill is
enacted, won't employers be forced to adjust somewhere--either by
reducing current healthcare or retirement benefits, or by downsizing
their number of employees and adding to the ranks of the unemployed?
Answer 4. Paid sick days policies can be implemented without
negative impacts for employers. For a case in point, we can examine
efforts to raise the Federal minimum wage, which set off a wave of
similar business claims. According to a 2006 statement from 650
economists, increasing the minimum wage ``can significantly improve the
lives of low-income workers and their families, without the adverse
effects that critics have claimed'' \10\ and result in higher
productivity, lower turnover and improved worker morale. While a paid
sick days policy would impose modest costs, economists predict that is
also likely to help business by reducing turnover and improving worker
productivity.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\10\ See the economists' statement at www.epi.org/minwage/epi--
minimum--wage--2006.pdf.
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It is also important to consider San Francisco's experience. The
city's labor enforcement official has publicly stated that she is not
aware of any employers in San Francisco who have reduced staff or made
any other significant changes in their business as a result of the sick
leave ordinance. Furthermore, despite an economic slowdown affecting
employment in all counties in the Bay Area in 2007, after passing paid
sick days, San Francisco maintained a competitive job growth rate that
exceeded the average growth rate of nearby counties. In the 12-month
period following the 2007 effective date of the new policy, employment
in San Francisco expanded by 1.1 percent, substantially above
neighboring areas without this ordinance.
Question 5. The Healthy Families Act ``employers with existing
policies'' section only applies to employers that offer leave ``under
the same conditions outlined'' in the bill. Would an employer that
offers 5 days of paid leave per year but allows unused leave to carry
over annually qualify? Would undesignated leave that could be used for
sick leave or any other purpose qualify if an employee made the
decision to use all available leave for vacation leave? Does the term
``same conditions'' include the terms of enforcement and remedies?
Answer 5. The Healthy Families Act is aimed to address the needs of
workers who have no paid time off to deal with their own health needs
or the health and well-being of their families. Employers who offer
paid leave policies that allow employees to use the leave in the same
method and for the same purpose as the paid time off offered by the
Healthy Families Act will not be required to change their policies. We
expect that administrative details will be fleshed out through the
Federal regulatory process. During that time, both the employer and
employee communities will have an opportunity to weigh in.
Question 6. Some smaller local governments that rely on part-time
and seasonal employees for services such as mowing the grass in public
spaces are concerned that mandating paid sick leave for these employees
will impose high cost and bureaucratic burdens. These local governments
would be forced to consider shifting their employment practices away
from part-time work. But working part-time is an option many employees
seek because of the flexibility it provides, particularly teenagers
looking for after-school work and parents who can only work during
school hours. Do you understand the value work opportunities like these
provide and do you think they are worth preserving?
Answer 6. While we understand the value of part-time and seasonal
work opportunities, we also understand workers' need for paid sick
days. Part-time workers are more likely to work in industries that
require frequent contact with the public, and without paid sick days,
are more likely to put the public's health at risk. For example, two in
five food-service workers are employed part-time, about twice the
proportion of workers across all industries.\11\ These workers not only
directly interact with customers, but also come into contact with food
and drink, which may facilitate the spread of contagion. The accrual
system in the Healthy Families Act allows part-time workers to accrue
paid sick days, but to address the needs of employers, part-time
workers will earn less time annually than full-time workers. Similarly,
to accommodate the needs of employers with seasonal employees, the
Healthy Families Act permits employees to use their earned paid sick
time only on the 60th day of their employment.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\11\ Bureau of Labor Statistics. Food Services and Drinking Places.
www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgs023.htm#emply.
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Response to Questions of Senator Dodd by Elissa O'Brien
Question 1. You mentioned in your testimony that earlier this year
67 percent of SHRM members indicated that they either planned to or
were currently sending employees home if they came to work with flu- or
cold-like symptoms. However, this still leaves a large proportion of
SHRM employers, which do not of course encompass all employers, who do
not employ such practices. This isn't good enough--we cannot just
provide these worker protections to some Americans and not others. Why
do the remaining 33 percent of SHRM members not provide this kind of
policy during an epidemic and how can we ensure that they do--both for
the public health and for families--economic well-being?
Answer 1. The 67 percent response cited in my written statement
came from a survey of SHRM members conducted in May of 2009, many
months before the Federal Government declared the H1N1 virus a public
health emergency. In a more recent poll of SHRM members conducted
October 15, 2009, 74 percent of HR professionals indicated their
organization was informing their workforce not to come to work if they
have flu- and cold-like symptoms. In addition, many employer policies
already direct employees to stay home if they are experiencing these
symptoms, so the number of organizations that adhere to this type of
policy is much higher than 74 percent.
Organizations have also employed other policies and tactics to help
reduce the spread of the H1N1 virus in the workplace. In the October
15, 2009 SHRM poll, HR professionals cited the following as the top
strategies and programs currently being implemented:
Educating employees on flu prevention measures=89 percent.
Monitoring the H1N1 virus situation by following guidance
from the CDC, WHO, etc.=84 percent.
Making hand sanitizer, other disinfectants, masks and
other flu prevention tools readily available across the organization=84
percent.
Developed an employee communication strategy related to
the H1N1 virus=75 percent.
Question 2. As you correctly note, because Wingate Healthcare
provides care for sick, elderly, and disabled Americans, it is
particularly crucial that your company have policies in place to ensure
that sick workers stay home. Unfortunately, not all health care workers
have these critical benefits. According to BLS, only 77 percent of
health care workers in the private sector have any paid sick days at
all. Do you think that businesses that provide health care services to
vulnerable populations should provide paid sick days to ensure that
their workers don't spread illness? Do you think it would harm your
business if you stopped providing this basic benefit to workers?
Answer 2. SHRM believes that employers should voluntarily provide
paid leave to their employees. These benefits are incredibly important
recruitment and retention tools for employers. In my experience,
providing generous paid leave benefits and programs has provided
Wingate with a competitive advantage over similar entities in which we
compete for talent. It is true that not all health care organizations
are able to provide paid sick leave to their employees, and it would be
helpful to know from a public policy perspective what type of financial
barriers or other obstacles prevent these organizations from offering
these benefits.
Question 3. You stated that we should ``encourage'' employers to
provide adequate paid leave policies for their employees. I agree.
However, ``encouragement'' is clearly not enough. There continue to be
many employers who, despite encouragement, still offer no paid sick
time for their employees. We know that this inequity disproportionately
impacts those workers in low-wage jobs who cannot afford to take unpaid
time off when they are sick or to care for an ill family member. What
should be done about these employees? How can we be satisfied when a
large proportion of our workforce has inadequate workplace rights and
benefits?
Answer 3. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 83 percent
of all private sector employees have access to paid illness leave.
Unfortunately, as you point out, this means that a small percentage of
employees are left without access to paid time off to address their
health needs or those of their family members. Rather than pursue a
one-size-fits-all paid leave mandate that ultimately penalizes those
employers who are already providing generous paid leave benefits,
public policy should do more to encourage employers to offer paid
leave.
As it stands today, unlike other areas of Federal law, there is no
Federal law or statute that incentivizes employers to provide this type
of benefit. For example, the government provides real incentives to
homeowners to make their homes more energy efficient by providing them
tax credits for replacement windows. Struggling employers need
encouragement in the form of real incentives too. That's why SHRM has
proposed a set of principles for a 21st Century Workplace Flexibility
Policy that encourages employers to provide paid leave by allowing them
to meet a safe harbor standard of leave. By voluntarily meeting this
safe harbor leave standard, an employer would opt out of other Federal,
State and local leave requirements. Additionally, tax credits for small
employers and/or those organizations that can least afford to offer
paid leave benefits would be another way to incentivize employers to
offer paid leave.
Question 4. I applaud your efforts at Wingate to provide employees
with the tools they need to balance work and family, and you argue that
paid time off offers a flexible option for employers that should be
encouraged. A concern you raise is that the Healthy Families Act could
cause employers to reduce wages or other benefits, and therefore limit
flexibility. While research does not support this claim, how would
providing a Federal floor from which employers, such as Wingate, could
offer more generous benefits to their employees cause costs different
than offering paid time off policies? What evidence do you have that
employers will scale back other benefits if this law passes? Why would
employers respond in that way to a law that will ultimately save them
money?
Answer 4. As you know, employers have only a finite pool of
resources to devote to employees' total compensation, which includes
wages and other important benefits such as health care and retirement
plans, educational assistance, and paid time off. When the government
imposes a Federal floor or mandate, it confines or restricts employers'
discretionary spending on other benefits and current benefit offerings
are often scaled back to meet that minimum requirement given compliance
costs incurred as a result of the mandate. Since enactment of the
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), SHRM members have reported during
focus groups and other venues that they have in fact scaled back leave
benefits to meet the added costs and minimum requirements of the FMLA.
Question 5. You state that the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
has been difficult for employers to implement and that the Healthy
Families Act would be similarly difficult. Employers are already
required to keep track of the hours that their employees work and our
paid sick days bill would simply require them to provide 1 hour of paid
sick time for every 30 hours worked. Employers have the option to
require medical certification for an absence of more than 3 days, but
even that option--which is entirely the employer's choice--imposes
minimal burdens. In a survey, 60 percent of employers said that the
FMLA took less than 30 minutes per case to request and review. How, in
your view, would the Healthy Families Act impose an undue burden on
employers?
Answer 5. It is true that requests for FMLA leave for the birth,
adoption or foster care placement of a child impose minimal burden on
HR professionals and employers and SHRM data supports this assertion.
In the 2007 SHRM FMLA and Its Impact on Organizations Survey, only 13
percent of HR professionals reported challenges in administering leave
under the FMLA for the birth or adoption of a child.
On the other hand, administering medical leave under the statute
can prove challenging. Among the problems associated with implementing
the FMLA are the definition of a serious health condition, intermittent
leave, and medical certifications. In fact, 47 percent of SHRM members
responding to the 2007 FMLA Survey reported that they have experienced
challenges in granting leave for an employee's serious health condition
as a result of a chronic condition (ongoing injuries, ongoing
illnesses, and/or non-life threatening conditions). Medical
certifications that allow for intermittent leave for a chronic,
episodic condition make managing absenteeism extremely difficult.
Moreover, vague FMLA rules mean that practically any ailment lasting 3
calendar days and including a doctor's visit, now qualifies as a
serious medical condition. Under the HFA, eligible employees could use
paid sick leave for many broader purposes than the FMLA's serious
health condition standard.
As you mention, employers may request a medical certification under
the HFA, but only if the leave extends for more than 3 consecutive
workdays. This then would enable an employee to use paid sick leave
every other day for 2 weeks, without notice, forcing the employer to
either forgo production or shift that employee's workload to another
employee.
Many of the HFA provisions, including intermittent leave, are
modeled on the FMLA. For example, employees would be able to use HFA
leave on an intermittent basis, in small increments of time. During the
Department of Labor's multi-year review of the FMLA regulations, the
Department reported an explosion in sporadic, unscheduled leave--
particularly the inappropriate use of medical leave--which was never
envisioned by FMLA's authors. This unfair use of leave created enormous
challenges for managers of time-sensitive operations such as emergency
responders, public safety and public health operations run by State and
local governments, as well as for employers in the transportation and
communications industries. Allowing paid sick leave to be used on an
intermittent basis would only exacerbate these challenges, especially
given that some employees would be eligible to use both HFA and FMLA
leave on an intermittent basis.
Question 6. You have raised concerns about the impact of the
Healthy Families Act on businesses with existing policies that provide
paid time off that can be used for a variety of purposes. However, the
Healthy Families Act contains specific language addressing this
concern, stating that: ``Any employer with a paid leave policy who
makes available an amount of paid leave that is sufficient to meet the
requirements of this section and that may be used for the same purposes
and under the same conditions--as leave provided under the act does not
have to change their existing policies. This language says that as long
as an employer provides leave that can be used for illness, caregiving,
or preventive care--and as long as there are not excessive restrictions
on when or how employees can use that leave--the employer is not
impacted by this law at all. Why would responsible businesses with paid
time off policies object to this law if it requires no change in their
existing rules?
Answer 6. SHRM appreciates the efforts the sponsors of the Healthy
Families Act have made to alter the bill language to address concerns
regarding paid time off (PTO) plans. As you know, paid time off plans
are a growing trend among many of the nation's top employers (many of
which are recognized by Working Mother Magazine and others) because
they allow for maximum employee flexibility while providing employers
with certainty and predictability. Yet, despite the above stated
changes to the HFA, SHRM members are concerned that the HFA could be
interpreted by regulators in a manner that would disrupt current PTO
programs, and ultimately force these plans to meet additional
requirements.
For example, many employer PTO plans include ``no-fault
attendance'' policies, whereby an employer may take disciplinary action
against an employee for failure to adhere to the employer's notice
requirements for using PTO leave. The HFA, however, prohibits employers
from taking any negative action that would impact an employee's ability
to take leave under the act, so it is unclear whether these types of
PTO plans would meet the HFA requirements.
Questions of Senator Dodd to Scott Gottlieb
Question 1. In your written testimony you said that there does not
seem to be a compelling public policy case for singling out this
particular flu from others and then you go on to say other flus have
hit older working-age populations much harder in the past. You also
said that employment policy does not appear to be the right focus of
our resources and response. There are 2.1 million births each year to
women in our workforce. As you know, children have been
disproportionately affected by this pandemic and most are too young to
care for themselves. In light of your testimony, what do you think is
an appropriate response for working parents whose children have become
infected with H1N1?
Question 2. You talk in your testimony about vaccine production.
Can you address what you see as the underlying reasons why the Federal
Government has continued to rely on older egg-based technology for
vaccine manufacturing? What obstacles do you see at the Federal level
to moving to more modern vaccine development process such as cell-
based, recombinant technology?
[Editor's Note: The response to the above questions was not
available at time of print.]
Response to Questions of Senator Enzi by Scott Gottlieb
Question 1. Dr. Gottlieb, can you please provide the committee with
specific ways in which Congress can act to improve vaccine production
capabilities? How can Congress help our manufacturers to increase the
number of cell-based manufacturing facilities producing flu vaccine?
Answer 1. First, we need to invest--through Federal grants if
necessary--in additional facilities for manufacturing flu vaccine, in
particular cell-based facilities. These plants could be scaled more
quickly than current manufacturing processes (that depend on culturing
virus in specially-hatched chicken eggs) to enable rapid production of
a pandemic vaccine. A certain amount of this production capacity needs
to be maintained domestically. In a full-blown pandemic, with a very
deadly strain of flu causing mass casualties, it is hard to envision
that foreign nations would allow limited supplies of potentially life-
saving vaccines to be shipped outside their borders. The reaction to
H1N1 demonstrated how quickly international panic can set in, prompting
governments to take extraordinary and sometimes severe measures. Canada
and Australia effectively nationalized the facility that the United
States relied on for its vaccine. In the case of Australia, the
government pressured vaccine maker CSL Limited to turn over 36 million
doses of H1N1 vaccine contracted for by the United States and produced
in an Australian-based manufacturing plant. Meanwhile, in Canada, where
British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline maintains its U.S.-focused flu
vaccine facility, the company had to assure the local government that
Canadians would be served from that manufacturing plant before
Americans could receive any of their vaccine orders. In a full-blown
pandemic, we can expect vaccine-manufacturing facilities to be
nationalized. Yet much of the flu vaccine production capacity exists
outside the United States. The creation of more domestic capacity for
rapid vaccine production should be viewed as a strategic asset that we
need to develop and maintain. But ultimately, we need to move away from
the current process that relies on the direct culturing of the virus
for production of vaccine (in order to develop the vaccine antigen) to
a process that relies on the direct development of the antigen. For
example, new processes such as recombinant technologies allow the
manufacture of small fragments of virus (called virus-like particles or
VPLs rather than relying on collecting and culturing whole copies of
the virus. This and similar innovations (that don't rely on direct
culture of the virus itself) can yield more vaccine in shorter periods
of time--about 10-12 weeks to scale up a big production run of VPLs,
compared with 26 weeks using an egg-based vaccine or 16 for a cell
culture. The newer methods give us a better chance to intervene with
vaccine during the first wave of a pandemic.
Question 2. Dr. Gottlieb, what would the impact be of approving the
use of adjuvants in flu vaccines in the United States in terms of
spreading the supply of the vaccine to reach more people? What are the
barriers to approving the use of adjuvants in vaccines sold in the
United States?
Answer 2. One step to improving our readiness for the future is to
better integrate the use of vaccine additives, called adjuvants, into
pandemic planning. An adjuvant is a substance incorporated into a
vaccine that enhances or directs the immune response of the vaccinated
patient. Adjuvants are designed to bring the vaccine's antigen into
contact with the immune system and, therefore, to enhance the magnitude
of immunity produced as well as the duration of the immune response.
Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), as well as other drug firms,
completed innovative work incorporating new generations of adjuvants
into vaccines for H1N1 marketed in Europe during the H1N1 outbreak last
year. Much of the activity in Europe that enabled countries to deploy
adjuvant as part of HIN1 vaccines was based on mock-up preparations of
pandemic vaccines that Europe countries had pre-approved and
stockpiled. In the United States, our decision to forgo the use of
adjuvants, which can work to increase the protective effects of a given
quantity of vaccine, limited our ability to stretch our already
constrained stock of H1N1 vaccine raw material (the vaccine antigen).
Ultimately, because the HIN1 virus ended up being less virulent and
widespread then feared, that limited the vaccine supply that we have
available, and its delayed availability, does not appear to have
triggered public health consequences. Indeed, it proved sufficient. But
in the future, with a more virulent pandemic, we may not be so lucky.
To improve our readiness, we need to be better prepared to embrace new
methods. What measures can be taken to improve our process for
evaluating vaccine adjuvants? First, the FDA should consider creating
formal guidance on the development and use of adjuvants to help guide
product developers. The EMEA developed formal guidance on adjuvants 3
years ago. The document is available on that agency's Web site. The FDA
does not have a similar guidance document. The United States should
also consider stockpiling pre-
approved vaccine preparations that could be used in a public-health
emergency. The country can draw on Europe's ample experience to inform
this process. Adjuvants are not approved as stand-alone substances
because they do not always perform the same way with different
vaccines, types of vaccines, or, in some circumstances, with different
versions of the same antigen. Nonetheless, the European strategy of
having pandemic vaccines pre-approved, as mock-ups, was a prudent step.
Question 3. Dr. Gottlieb, you discussed the impact that ordering
single-dose shots had on our vaccine supply. Can you think of any other
country that has ordered both multi-dose and single-dose flu vaccines?
Why would the U.S. Government order both?
Answer 3. Each country, as well as the United States, ordered both
single-dose and multi-dose vaccine. But it has been argued that the
United States asked manufacturers to shift production toward the
development of more single-dose vials. Developing these single-dose
vials required more time, and is blamed for at least some of the delay
in making available the supply of H1N1 vaccine. One of the concerns
around the multi-dose vials that led to an apparent decision to pursue
more single-dose shots, was that the multi-dose vials require the use
of some preservatives that contain thimerosal, a mercury-containing
vaccine preservative that continues to stir concern that it can trigger
childhood autism, even though this association has been firmly
disproven.
Question 4. BAKDA was set up to provide incentives for companies to
manufacture new products that could aid the United States in responding
to biological, chemical and radiological threats. This mechanism helps
companies bare the costs associated with moving products through the
research and development pipeline by assisting with that financial
burden. This system has worked well for incenting new products but was
not intended for existing products or technology. The current pandemic
has highlighted the uncertainties associated with flu vaccine
production and you have testified about the importance of developing
newer technologies for producing influenza vaccines if we are to be
prepared for future epidemics. Is there a need to create some
incentives for companies that are producing traditional products such
as influenza vaccine so that we can ensure an adequate and timely
domestic supply when needed and that the United States can compete
favorably with other countries when vaccine supplies are needed?
Answer 4. The technology for developing improved influenza vaccines
is in development. The stumbling block has always been the demand for
these products. Vaccines are purchased by public, health entities that
value lower cost over the kinds of innovation that can lead to improved
production processes. In addition, they favor vaccines that are
commoditized and can be used interchangeably, since differentiated
vaccines are harder to deliver over large populations--for example,
requiring public health agencies to match a specific vaccine to certain
groups of patients. We would see more investment in improved vaccines
and better production processes if we had a predictable demand for
these products. To these ends, the government should also guarantee the
annual purchase of a certain amount of seasonal flu vaccine. This would
enable the industry to reliably forecast demand, spurring investment in
new facilities that could also be used to produce vaccine in a
pandemic. The annual procurement should favor vaccines produced in U.S.
plants and with newer, cell-based methods. The procurement process
could also favor vaccines with certain technological improvements that
align with better pandemic preparedness--for example vaccine derived
from processes that don't require the direct culturing of the virus.
Purchased vaccine could be distributed domestically, or better still,
donated to Asian nations such as Vietnam. Flu strains often originate
in Asia and we rely on local Asian governments to undertake vigorous
surveillance and share emerging virus strains. Giving them free shots
would encourage vaccination to reduce spread and give nations more skin
in global efforts to stem outbreaks.
Question 5. The FDA is charged with ensuring the safety of drugs,
devices and medical products. It does so through a variety of
mechanisms culminating in approval of these products after careful
review using an external advisory committee as well as internal
safeguards. This process was shortened during the recent pandemic using
a mechanism called Emergency Use Authorization so that drugs that had
not yet completed the process of review but which had a sufficient body
of evidence to be presumed safe could be released for use in treating
people hospitalized in intensive care units with pandemic influenza. In
your testimony you suggested that for novel technologies for critical
public health needs a closer working relationship might need to be
developed between FDA and manufacturers to ensure that we have timelier
access to safe and effective products when we need them. Could you
elaborate on how that closer working relationship might be structured
and what hurdles might need to be overcome to put such a process in
place?
Answer 5. Often times, FDA has found itself placed in uncomfortable
roles in moments of public health emergency--where there is a political
effort to expedite the availability of medical products to respond to a
crisis. FDA's feedback about the process for validating the safety and
effectiveness of medical products is vital to the rapid development of
any countermeasure. At the same time, the FDA believes that its role as
an independent arbiter of the science places constraints on how much it
should be involved in discussions and efforts to expedite the
availability of products, even in moments of crisis. We could benefit
from a more formal consideration of how this process should work--where
there is a need for FDA to play a very hands-on role in guiding the
development of product, but where the agency needs to maintain some
impartiality in order to maintain its regulatory independence. One
consideration might be the formalization of a process that maintains
very separate FDA teams for just such scenarios: one team for working
with product makers for expediting the development of countermeasures,
and another team for evaluating the safety and effectiveness of any
resulting products. If there were a pre-established SOP in place, this
would provide transparent assurance that components of FDA could be
engaged in helping to expedite development of a product, while other
elements in the agency remained far enough removed to maintain their
impartiality But the bottom line is we should consider how best to
structure a formal process in advance of the next public health crisis,
since this challenge exists in perpetuity.
[Whereupon, at 12:04 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]