Welcome to what we hope will become a weekly feature, in which we round up stories related to our practice that caught our eye. It’s important that we acknowledge that coronavirus has accentuated already deep and persistent issues in employment law in general, and our particular interests, such as pregnancy and parental leave. However, the crisis has only exacerbated them and we hope to call attention to them not simply so we can think about them, but so we can work together to develop tools and other means to make a post-coronavirus world one where workers’ concerns are heard.
Greater Effect on Unemployment for Women
The Hill has a feature this week that dives into the most recent batch of unemployment numbers, and the outlook is not good, especially for women. According to the research, women outpace men in unemployment by 10 points. Much of this can be attributed to the fact that the industries that were most severely affected, such as childcare, retail, hospitality, and other service-centered industries. However, even in professional fields, where women hold only 46% of jobs, they accounted for 56% of the layoffs.
Bailout for Childcare?
Meanwhile, writing in the New York Times, Claire Cain Miller asks if the childcare industry should receive a bailout. In April, we sounded the alarm with a blog post that described how devastating coronavirus had already been to workers who had lost their childcare options, and now the entire industry is teetering on the brink. However, instead of politicians trying to pass much needed legislation that would create a federal guarantee for childcare for all children, they are considering an industry-wide bailout, with Republican senators proposing a $25 bailout in the next pandemic package for private childcare providers while congressional Democrats are asking for $50 billion to be distributed as the Childcare and Development Block Grant.
How Are Working Parents Coping?
And finally, Caroline Fairchild asks where is the mental health support for working parents during the pandemic? Coming out of a recent survey by Fairchild and others, the LinkedIn editor pulled out some important facts about how parents are coping with the added stress. She notes that even though mental health was already a problem pre-pandemic, and caregiving options affected significantly by the closures of schools and other facilities, 74% of the largest cohort of working parents, millennials, are stressed at work. Additionally, 60% of respondents reported that their employers had not made accommodations, such as changing schedules so workers could provide childcare. In addition to highlighting the numbers, Fairchild also spoke with a panel of mental health professionals about the issues.
