Labor & Employment Law

One-Stop Resource for Paid Sick Days

By James Parks

More than two of every five private-sector workers do not receive any paid sick days. But having time off if you?re sick makes so much common sense that 95 percent of the public thinks it is unacceptable for employers to not provide paid sick leave. A full 60 percent think it is illegal not to provide sick leave. Lower-paid workers are especially vulnerable: Three of every four low-wage workers have no paid sick leave.

With the help of local advocates across the country, the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), an advocacy group for low-income people, has launched a new a one-stop-shop website for information on businesses and paid sick days. On the site, which you can visit here, you will find:

• Quotes from business owners about why paid sick days work for business.
• News stories about business and paid sick days.
• Resources to help make the case for paid sick days to businesses.
• A list of more than 100 businesses nationwide that support paid sick days.

As one of the employers on the site points out, without paid sick days, employees often come to work ill, infecting co-workers and decreasing productivity. Such ?presentee-ism? costs the U.S. economy $180 million annually in lost productivity and may be more costly to employers than absenteeism due to illness.

Among the resources provided on the site is a fact sheet showing that paid sick days can actually enhance a company’s bottom line. When workers are provided with paid sick time, they demonstrate increased job satisfaction, commitment and morale?and their employers reap the benefits of high performance and productivity.

Paid sick days should be a part of a national commitment to allowing workers to balance family and work, the AFL-CIO has said. That commitment should include:

• Strengthening the Family and Medical Leave Act to cover more workers and more family activities.
• Providing for paid family and medical leave.
• Guaranteeing workers at least  seven days of paid annual sick leave.

Rosanne Martino, manager of an upscale restaurant in New York City’s Greenwich Village, speaks for a lot of business owners on the CLASP site when she says Congress should enact a paid sick days law to level the playing field and ensure all businesses, especially those who are already doing the right thing for their employees, can remain competitive.

Most importantly, though, she said:

The bosses?those making the decisions for a business?would never work in a job that did not offer paid sick days. They shouldn’t expect their employees to do so, either.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on November 24, 2010 (boomark / email).