Suffolk County Fair Share for Health Care Act (2005)
Topics: Workers Rights & Wages | legislation
This Long Island, New York bill requires large supermarkets, including big box retailers that sell groceries, to contribute $3 in health care costs for each hour their employees work. Without pointing a finger directly at the world’s largest retailer, the legislature stated the proposed law’s intent: “the county cannot afford to continue to subsidize low wage employer who refuse to provide a minimum level of health care coverage for their employees.” By one estimate, the county spends up to $25 million each year on Medicaid services for employees and families of food retailers that do not provide health care. Seeing double-digit increases in Medicaid spending, and mounting competitive pressures for grocery chains (who currently contribute at the bill’s proposed rate) to drop their employees health benefits in order to compete with Wal-Mart, County officials approved the bill by a margin of 17-1. “The Fair Share for Health Care Act is a practical response to the costs that low-wage, no-benefits jobs impose on our communities,” said a spokesman for the Poverty Program at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice.
