Covid-19 Food Worker Safety Act

March 25, 2020

In the near future, I will be introducing legislation that would designate workers at food processing/protein facilities across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as “essential employees” and/or “front line employees” for all matters/circumstances, including but not limited to childcare, safety measures and paid leave to be made available to these workers.

These workers are vital to the food supply chain that nourish and feed our communities. It is imperative that Employers should take the following necessary, preventative actions to protect these workers:

Social Distancing: Employers should make available more space(s) for employees to take their breaks and meal periods. This includes opening up any conference or training rooms as well as temporary accommodations, such as a heated tent. Break times should be adjusted to reduce the number of employees on break at any given time. Table configurations should be changed so that the employees are always facing forward and not across from each other.

Providing a Presumption of Eligibility for Workers’ Compensation benefits for Workers that Get Sick in the Workplace

March 25, 2020

I invite you to join me in sponsoring important legislation that will assist our nurses, doctors, EMS, police, firefighters, pharmacists, grocery store employees and so many others are on the frontlines right now. These essential employees are protecting our well-being by keeping our health facilities operating, transporting our vulnerable family members and neighbors to get care, and making sure emergency services available and ensure that we have access to food and necessary goods for our families.

Workers compensation benefits are currently available to them if they get Coronavirus; however, they’re still required to prove that COVID-19 is occurring more in their occupation than in the general population.

SB 1102 – Covid-19 Grocery Store Worker Safety Act

March 25, 2020

Emergency expansion of FMLA

March 17, 2020

As protective measures are implemented statewide to protect our constituents from Covid-19 we must also act to protect them from economic fallout as a result of this crisis.

Hopefully, congress will soon pass relief legislation, but the proposed Families First Coronavirus Response Act leaves several holes which my legislation will fill, including the following provisions:

• Emergency paid sick leave for all employees not covered by the federal bill.
• Extending paid sick leave for an additional 4 days to cover the full two-week quarantine period as the federal bill only covers 10 days.
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Coronavirus Disease and Schools: Allowing for Online Instruction

March 11, 2020

Let’s face facts. Today, the World Health Organization formally declared COVID-19 a pandemic. All you have to do is read the news from Italy and, in our own nation New Rochelle NY, to see the situation which we in Pennsylvania will be faced with in the weeks ahead. The school districts in my area are already calling me, asking for specific direction from the state and reporting concerns with the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) guidance to view the need for extended school closures on a “case-by-case basis”. During this health crisis, school districts need the authority to act in a quick and efficient manner.

My proposal would allow each district to deliver online instruction until the end of the 2019-20 school year. While I realize that many districts in the Commonwealth are not equipped to provide online instruction to all students, we have a responsibility to those that can to be allowed to do so. In districts that do not have the capability to offer online instruction, PDE shall, within two weeks of enactment of this legislation, work with those districts to develop a plan for online/alternate instruction.