As a child, I was lucky enough to have at least one parent at home until I was 10 years old. When I was sick, my parents did not need to use sick days and therefore choose between sending me to school sick, leaving me at home alone, or losing their job so they could care for me. I always knew that, when I was sick, one of my parents could be at home with me until I had recovered. Likewise, when my mother or father was sick, they had at least a few sick days to choose from to recover. They did not need to go to work sick – and potentially infect coworkers – or lose a job because they could not work.
Because the United States has no minimum federal or state-level standard on paid sick leave for employees, many Americans do not have the luxury to be able to stay home with a sick child or go to a doctor appointment. In the United States, 47% of Americans lack the basic coverage for our illnesses1, and the disparities for low-income workers is even worse: more than half of working parents with below poverty level incomes have no paid sick leave2, and low-wage workers with 2 or more years of tenure are no more likely than those who have worked less than a year to have paid sick leave3. In fact, a report by Corporate Voices for Working Families notes that “the lack or absence of even the least amount of flexibility can mean the difference between keeping and losing one’s job, economic security, or poverty.”4 Something as basic as getting sick and needing to recover should not be a privilege available only to those with an employer who decides to provide sick days.
Representative Rosa DeLauro (CT) recalled a recent meeting with wives of men fighting in Iraq. During her meeting, she heard the story of one spouse’s employer who threatened to fire her for missing 2 days of work due to her child’s sickness at a time when she is parenting alone. As Steven Greenhouse noted in a New York Times article on May 15, 2009, Rep. DeLauro responded, “Her husband is fighting in Iraq, but she may lose her job because there aren’t two parents home to deal with the problem of sick kids.”
Introduced by Representative DeLauro (D-CT) and Senator Kennedy (D-MA), the Healthy Families Act of 2009 (identical bills H.R. 2460 and S. 1152) would establish a national standard for paid sick days. The bills as currently written would require employers – with 15 or more employees during 20 or more workweeks a year – to permit each employee to earn at least one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. Employees would then be able to begin utilizing their paid sick leave after 60 days of employment and roll over any unused sick leave in the next calendar year. The Healthy Families Act allows employees to use paid sick leave for a variety of health needs for their family, such as 1) their own health needs, 2) the health needs of a family member, or 3) seeking medical or legal help for self or family member due to sexual assault, domestic violence, or stalking.5 Similar to the Family Medical Leave Act, employers may also choose to offer more than the federally – mandated requirement.6
The Healthy Families Act of 2009 supports our communities by recognizing that we all get sick and that we all need paid sick leave. At the same time, many businesses know that offering paid sick leave to their employees supports their bottom line by resulting in less absenteeism, higher rates of worker retention, higher worker productivity, and lower health-care costs7. Healthy workers who have time to recuperate from an illness are shown to be more productive and use less time away from work than those who must continue to work sick, infect their coworkers, and not fully recover. Flexible family policy like paid sick days not only benefits employees and their families, but has a positive impact on businesses and employers.
Paid sick days are also critical for the public health of our communities and workplaces. Illnesses like H1N1 are highly-infectious and rapidly spreading, prompting government organizations to ask workers to stay home, in addition to closing their children’s schools. If a worker does not have paid sick leave and must choose between staying home due to their or their child’s illness but risks losing employment, or going to work sick, we risk infecting the entire workplace simply because employees do not have the time to recover. Paid sick leave is simply critical to public health and our safety, and no employee should have to choose between the health of their family or their employment.
What You Can Do!
Contact your senators and representative and ask them to cosponsor the Healthy Families Act of 2009. Tell them that employees shouldn’t be forced to risk losing their jobs in order to take care of themselves or their families. Tell them that our laws need to better reflect working families and workplaces today. Tell them that providing paid sick leave for employees is a non-partisan issue that affects every employee and family in our country. Tell them to support all working families!
