Sick and Fired: U.S. Workers Struggle Without Paid Sick, Parental Leave

by Mike Hall, Sep 3, 2008

Nearly 100 million workers don’t have paid sick days to care for a sick child.

When workers took time off for illness or to care for a sick family member, one in six say they were fired, disciplined or threatened by their employer, according to a new national survey. Also, a new report finds the United States ranks at the bottom of 21 high-income nations in providing parental leave for workers.

The survey, conducted by the National Opinion Research Center of the University of Chicago, also found that 86 percent of those polled say employers should be required to provide paid sick leave, and more than 80 percent say paid sick leave should be a basic workplace right on par with the minimum wage, overtime laws and other workplace standards.

But nearly 50 percent of private-sector workers have no paid sick days, and low-income workers fare even worse—76 percent have no paid sick leave. Overall, 57 million private-sector workers in this country have no paid sick days, and 94 million cannot use their paid sick days to care for a sick child.

Deborah Leff, president of the Public Welfare Foundation, which funded the survey, says paid sick leave is not only good workplace policy, but “good public health.”

The lack of paid sick days has real consequences for Americans forced to choose between losing a day’s pay or going to work sick. It’s difficult for employees to be productive when they are not well. They also expose co-workers and customers to illnesses.

Earlier this year, a cost-benefit analysis by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research shows passage of the bill could save the U.S. economy $8.1 billion a year by preventing lost productivity due to sick workers, the spread of illness to co-workers and customers and worker turnover.

Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families, which is hosting an “online rally” for paid sick leave legislation, says many of the workers without paid leave are those who least can afford to forgo a day or more of pay.

Very often these are the jobs where people are living very close to the bone. Workers are sometimes putting their jobs on the line because they have a sick child or are sick.

In Congress, the Healthy Families Act (S. 910 and H.R. 1542) would guarantee paid sick leave for workers to recover from an illness or take care of a sick family member.

San Francisco is the first city in the nation to require employers to provide workers paid sick leave. In 2006, voters approved a paid sick leave referendum and the law went into effect last June. Earlier this year, Washington, D.C., enacted a modest paid sick leave law. This fall, voters in Ohio and Milwaukee, Wis., will have paid sick leave referendums on the ballot.

On the parental leave front, a new report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) finds the United States:

…has the least generous parental leave policy among the 21 high-income nations we studied….We pay a high price for our poor policy, because parental leave improves the health and well-being of children and paid leave provides families with crucial economic support at such an important time.

The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides up to 12 weeks of parental leave, all of it unpaid. In addition, only about 60 percent of U.S. workers are eligible for family and medical leave. In the nations studied, only Australia did not provide paid leave, but it does provide a $3,000 “baby bonus” to help new parents through the unpaid leave period.

New parents can take 11 weeks of paid leave in Switzerland, 27 weeks in Spain, 29 weeks in France and 47 weeks in Sweden.

Last year, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Ala.) introduced the Family Leave Insurance Act (S. 1681), which would provide up to eight weeks of paid family leave. The cost would be shared by employees, employers and the federal government.

Click here for the full study.
 

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