Paid Sick Days: Sick at work

When the first cases of the H1N1 virus (swine flu) were confirmed in America back in April, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised that sick individuals stay home from work or school.

“Influenza is thought to spread mainly person-to-person through coughing or sneezing of infected people,” the CDC said. “If you get sick, CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.” However, for many Americans, staying home from work due to illness — or to care for a sick child — is an impossibility because of a lack of job-protected paid sick days.

The Healthy Families Act (HFA), which is also before Congress, would guarantee seven paid sick days per year to all workers at firms with 15 or more employees. “Paid sick days has always been a good, common sense idea, but, in light of the recent H1N1 epidemic, it has also become a necessary one,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), an HFA sponsor. “Right when more and more workers are feeling economically vulnerable and afraid to even miss one workday, we face an extraordinarily serious health risk that spreads much more quickly if the sick do not stay at home.” November 10th, the Obama administration officially agreed, and endorsed the HFA.

  • Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More To Read

March 24, 2023

Women’s Labor is Women’s History 

To understand women's history, we must learn the role of women - and especially women of color - in the labor movement 

March 24, 2023

Victory! Washington Takes a Critical Step Towards Balancing our Tax Code

Washington state supreme court upholds the capital gains tax

February 15, 2023

Podcast: Getting to Lower Health Care Costs in Washington

EOI's Sam Hatzenbeler joins Washington's Indivisible Podcast to discuss our state's health care costs crisis and what the legislature can do to solve it