With Economy and Epidemics, American Workers Need Paid Sick Days Now More Than Ever

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 19, 2009

Denver, CO -- May 19, 2009 -- The United States moved closer to establishing paid sick days as a national basic labor standard when the Healthy Families Act was re-introduced yesterday in the House of Representatives. Sponsored by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) the legislation would make it possible for workers to accrue up to seven paid sick days each year. HFA would also allow workers to utilize paid sick days to recover from domestic violence, stalking or sexual assault.

The Healthy Families Act (HFA) is expected to be introduced in the Senate later this week.

“More than 50 million Americans lack a single paid sick day in which to care for themselves when routine illness strikes,” said Linda Meric, Executive Director, 9to5, National Association of Working Women. “In addition, nearly 100 million workers don’t have a paid sick day they can use to care for an ill child. If Congress passes the HFA, American workers will no longer have to make impossible choices; caring for themselves in times of illness and losing a day’s pay – or worse – their jobs.

“As we reflect on the H1N1 swine flu threat and the twists and turns of Wall Street,” Meric said, “we know there is no better time to enact this legislation than now. We must provide paid sick days as one more step toward real recovery for real working families in the U.S.”

A report released this month by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, “Contagion Nation,” (link) shows the U.S. is the only country, among 22 countries ranked highly in terms of economic and human development, that does not guarantee paid sick days for all workers. As a result, millions of Americans go to work sick each year, lowering business profits and productivity and potentially spreading illness to coworkers and customers.

Most Americans, however, believe paid sick days should be a basic right guaranteed by law. Public opinion polls (link) show that a majority consistently list paid sick days as “very important.” Allowing workers to take short breaks from their jobs when their health, or the health of their families, demands it, made sense to nearly 90% of people polled in 2007. This basic labor standard is feasible, affordable, and is good public and workplace policy.

9to5 led a campaign to win paid sick days for every private sector worker in the city of Milwaukee. The ballot-box measure was approved by 70 percent of Milwaukee voters last November, though implementation has been delayed by a legal challenge.  Since 2004, when DeLauro and Kennedy first introduced HFA in Congress, 9to5 members and activists around the country have also organized and led diverse coalitions of paid sick days advocates in other states, including Colorado and California.

9to5 has collected the stories of workers from across the country who've lost jobs or pay because of the lack of paid sick days. This summer, 9to5 will release an updated version of “Ten Things That Can Happen If You Don’t Have Paid Sick Days.”