The following is an op-ed authored by Lena DeGloma, founder and clinical director of Red Moon Wellness in Park Slope, Brooklyn. This op-ed was originally published in print in the Brooklyn Downtown Star.<\/p>\n
To you, a broken finger might not be life altering. It might be a minor inconvenience in your daily life; it might make texting and typing harder and you may have to find a new way to type around a cast. But for people who work with their hands, like my employees, an injury like a broken finger can be disastrous.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I am the founder and clinical director of Red Moon Wellness<\/a>, a holistic wellness center in Park Slope, Brooklyn. We have over 40 talented employees, most of whom are practitioners who rely on their hands for their work providing massage therapy, acupuncture, childbirth support, and clinical herbalism to New Yorkers. In the 17+ years I\u2019ve been in business, we\u2019ve helped thousands of New Yorkers ease pain, recover from injuries, welcome new family members, reduce anxiety and stress, and feel good in their bodies. As a wellness professional who works with people every day, I have seen how a seemingly minor injury can bring a person\u2019s life to a standstill. My employees rely on their hands for work\u2013I have also seen how an injury can mean time away from work to heal and the significant impact that can have on someone\u2019s life and on the business.<\/p>\n Every employee deserves to be fully supported in taking care of their health needs when injury or illness strikes, and that means not being worried about missing bills or rent when they need time off work. While New York has a robust paid family leave program \u2013 which serves as a lifeline for employees and employers alike when people need time off to care for a loved one or welcome a new baby \u2013 our paid medical leave program is lagging behind. New York\u2019s current paid medical leave program, known as Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) has been frozen in time since 1989. That means employees with an off-the-job injury are entitled to a mere $170 a week as they recover. What\u2019s worse is that in New York, a business owner can legally fire their employees while they are on TDI, often stripping them of their health insurance when it matters most. For countless New Yorkers, an injury as common as a broken finger or sprained ankle can cost you your income, your job and your health insurance.\u00a0<\/p>\n