Catching up with State Senator Pat Jehlen

Here’s a look at some of the recent activities and votes of Medford and Somerville’s State Senator, Patricia Jehlen.

Senator Patricia D. Jehlen Votes to Improve Employment Rights and Safety Remedies for Victims of Domestic Violence

The Senate recently passed legislation establishing new employment rights for victims of domestic violence, stalking and sexual assault.

The bill requires employers with 50 or more employees to allow up to 15 days of leave, with or without pay, to any employee who is a victim of domestic violence or lives with a family member who is a victim of domestic violence.

“This bill is a necessary and humane step to ensure that victims of domestic violence are given the time they need to get back on track with their lives,” said Sen. Jehlen.

Employees can use the leave to obtain medical attention, counseling, housing, protection orders and other legal assistance.

The bill requires the employer to keep all information about the employee’s leave confidential. Employees must exhaust all available leave, such as vacation and sick time, before seeking leave established under this bill; however an employer may waive this requirement.

The bill is now headed for the House of Representatives.

Jehlen Sponsors Direct Care Workforce Briefing

Senator Patricia Jehlen and Representative Alice Wolf, co-chairs of the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs, along with the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development, sponsored a recent briefing on the state’s rapidly growing demand for direct-care workers.

Massachusetts will need nearly 23,000 more direct-care workers by 2016. That makes this sector among the top six fastest growing occupations in the state at a 22% increase, compared to 6% overall employment growth forecast for the state over the same time period.

Currently, 100,000 of these healthcare workers — the second largest occupational group in the state — provide long-term services and supports to elders and people living with disabilities.

“We need to understand more about these workers and their employers in order to ensure that we have the workforce we need to care for elders and people with disabilities,” said Senator Jehlen.

Senator Jehlen Votes to Bring Immediate Relief to Small Businesses Struggling with Soaring Health Care Costs

The Senate on Tuesday approved legislation to help spur economic growth by providing small businesses the immediate health care cost relief they need to retain and create jobs and start hiring again. The comprehensive bill requires insurers to offer affordable health plans, reduces premium fluctuations and promotes wellness programs for small businesses.

“Reducing health care costs is one of the most important things we can do to help small businesses and our economy,” said Sen. Jehlen.

The legislation delivers an estimated premium relief of at least 10 to 15 percent. It also establishes transparency measures for comparing provider prices.

The bill would not allow premium increases exceeding medical inflation. To avoid Division of Insurance review of an increase, a carrier could guarantee that at least 90 percent of their premium dollars will be spent on actual care and not administrative costs, such as marketing, salaries or profit margins.

Eligible small businesses that participate in a wellness program would receive an additional 5 percent state subsidy for eligible health insurance costs, bringing the total state and federal assistance up to 40 percent of employer health care costs per year.

Finally, the bill requires hospitals and other large health care providers with healthy reserves and a profit margin over 2.5 percent for the past two years to make a one-time, shared-sacrifice contribution to help alleviate rising health costs for small businesses and bridge the gap to long-term system reform. A $100 million contribution from the provider community would reduce small business health insurance costs by an additional 2.5 percent.

Other provisions in the bill authorize small businesses to group together and purchase health care plans at lower prices; prohibit anti-competitive contract provisions between insurance carriers and health providers; and provide for review of mandated benefits every four years.

The bill now goes to the House of Representatives.

Information from State Senator Pat Jehlen