Progressive Voices

We’re all likely to get sick this year but not all of us will be able to take a day off from work to get well.  That’s because there’s no state or federal law that requires employers to provide paid sick days.

Almost half, 42 percent, of North Carolina’s workers lack paid sick leave.  That means that 1.6 million of our state’s workers cannot even take a single paid sick day off to care for their or their loved one’s health.

We are a nation and state that prides itself on family values.  When you work hard, you should be able to care for your family.  But without paid sick days, many workers have to make a difficult choice—keeping their job and getting a paycheck or caring for themselves, a sick child, or maybe even a sick parent.

Working mothers, part-time employees, and low-wage workers are hit especially hard by a lack of paid sick days.  Nationwide, half of all working mothers lose pay when they take time to tend to sick children.  Similarly, an estimated 75 percent of low-wage workers lack paid sick days.  Because African-American and Hispanic workers dominate the low-wage labor force, those groups are impacted disproportionately by a lack of paid sick days.

Not only do working folks need paid sick days to care for their children, they need them to care for their parents or other elderly sick relatives.  More than a third of Americans have elderly care responsibilities and many have to take unpaid time off to provide care.  The need for elder care will only increase as Baby Boomers retire in the near future.

Paid sick days will not only help our families, it will help our economy too.  We can save money and reduce illnesses. 

Employers would benefit from higher productivity.  Employees who come to work sick because they don’t have paid sick leave are unproductive and can be contagious.  “Presenteeism”—workers coming to work even when they are ill—costs our economy too much.  One estimate says that it costs American employers $180 billion in lost productivity.  This cost exceeds the price of employee-provided medical and disability benefits.

Not only does it cost a lot, it means that other employees are exposed to the sick worker who comes in.  This matters even more for food-service, retail, and hospitality industry workers who interact with consumers on a day-to-day basis.  Providing paid sick days makes us all healthier.

Another benefit of paid sick days is reduced turnover in workplaces.  Employees would retain their jobs with paid sick leave and employers would save on advertising, recruitment, and training, a much bigger bill than paid sick days.

Overall, it’s estimated that if Americans were given seven paid sick days, we would save $8.2 billion per year.

States around the nation are taking a good look at the benefits of paid sick leave, with twelve states boasting serious campaigns. Here in North Carolina a growing chorus of voices is calling on the state to join the move toward creating family-friendly workplace policies.  Congress is also considering a paid sick days proposal known as the Healthy Families Act. 

The momentum is building and for good reason–everyone wins with paid sick days.  Workers can take a day off without fear of losing their jobs to care for a sick child or parent.  Employees save money and retain more long-term dedicated workers.  All of us benefit when there’s less risk of catching an illness from a sick waiter or sales clerk who assists us. 

Louisa Warren is a Policy Advocate at the N.C. Justice Center

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 26th, 2008 at 11:52 am and is filed under Progressive Voices. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.