Bill Would Broaden Access to Paid Sick Leave

Group Says Sick Pay Would Improve Public Health

Jun 15, 2009 Lyda Phillips

An assessment of the impact of the proposed Healthy Families Act finds that paid sick leave would improve public health and reduce overall health care costs.

The Healthy Families Act, introduced in the U.S. Congress in May 2009 as S. 1152 and H.R. 2460, would allow workers employed by firms of fifteen or more employees to earn up to seven paid sick days per year.

Based on evidence in a study funded by the National Partnership for Women and Families, a requirement for paid sick days is highly likely to have the following impacts:

• More workers taking needed leave from work to care for or recover from an illness or to receive preventative care.
• More workers taking needed leave from work to care for ill children and dependents.
• Improved compliance with public health guidance regarding seasonal influenza and community mitigation strategies for pandemic flu.
• Reduced hazard of worker-related foodborne disease transmission in restaurants.
• Reduced hazard of worker-related gastrointestinal disease transmission in long-term care facilities for the elderly.
• Mitigation of income loss, actual job loss, and the threat of job loss for low-income workers during periods of illness or care for ill dependents.

Other Benefits of Paid Sick Days Possible

In addition the health impact assessment found that the requirement for paid sick days is likely to have the following impacts:

• Reduced visits to emergency rooms by workers with health insurance.
• Increased compliance with infection control policies, limiting the transmission of communicable diseases in childcare facilities and schools.

It also found that a reduction in avoidable hospitalization due to the increase in primary care use is plausible although there have been no specific studies of this relationship.

Opponents Argue Paid Time Off for Illness Would Be Bad for Business

Almost 60 million U.S. workers, 48 percent of the workforce , currently do not have the ability to earn and use paid sick days when ill or when a family member needs care, according to the Health Impact Assessment of the Healthy Families Act of 2009.

“Many vulnerable populations have less access to paid sick days,” the report states. “For example, 79 percent of the lowest-paid populations, over 50 percent of Hispanic workers, 52 percent of workers who rate their health as fair or poor, and 40 percent of mothers whose children have asthma do not have paid sick days.”

However, some employer groups oppose the imposition of what they see as a costly new federal mandate.

For example, The Society for Human Resource Management urged Congress to seek consensus legislation on workplace flexibility policy rather than a bill that would mandate paid sick leave

“We believe that employers should be encouraged to offer paid leave as part of every full-time employee’s benefit plan – but we oppose an inflexible, one-size-fits-all government mandate,” said Laurence O’Neil, SHRM president and CEO. “Our goal is to seek legislation that will encourage paid leave, but not discourage the creation of quality new jobs.”

The copyright of the article Bill Would Broaden Access to Paid Sick Leave in Law, Crime & Justice is owned by Lyda Phillips. Permission to republish Bill Would Broaden Access to Paid Sick Leave in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Bill Would Give Workers Paid Sick Leave

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