Join the Tweetstorm Today! 2-4PM EST

From our friends at Family Values @ Work

All workers and their families need paid sick days – time to visit a doctor, recover from illness, support a sick child or loved one without sacrificing their wages or their job. Our network and partners have now won paid sick days in 32 locations (watch that number go up soon!) But we all know people who live in other cities and states where these policies are being blocked. We need our national representatives to pass a federal standard, the Healthy Families Act (HFA). Join us May 16 – 20 to help celebrate the state and local wins and build demand for HFA Now!

You can find sample tweets here or retweet directly from our Storify. Please be sure to check out the events of the week, especially the Philadelphia event!

Our Philadelphia tweets are below!

Philly workers can use earned sick time! RT to help spread the word about benefits http://bit.ly/1D6jd9O #PHLSickDays
On 5/18 celebrate #philly joining other cities & states in giving its workers #paidsickdays! #phlsickdays #HFAnow http://bit.ly/1q9gDu0
Got the flu. Stayed home because #paidsickdays passed in #Philly. How about yours? #HFAnow http://bit.ly/1q9gDu0
Join us on 5/18 as we talk #phlsickdays and why other cities need #paidsickdays http://bit.ly/1q9gDu0 #hfanow

Labor Day News: Paid Sick Days For Federal Contractors!

As workers across the country celebrated Labor Day yesterday, President Obama issued a new executive order to add even more joy to the festivities. Under his instructions, more than 300,000 federal contractors who do not currently have paid sick days will be able to earn sick time to care for themselves and their family members. You can see more about the executive order at https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/09/07/fact-sheet-helping-middle-class-families-get-ahead-expanding-paid-sick.

But that's not all! In addition to the release of a new report, The Cost of Doing Nothing, President Obama also called on Congress to pass the Healthy Families Act and the FAMILY Act, which would let workers earn paid sick days and paid family leave.

If you support these measures, you can contact your members of Congress and let them know! MomsRising has letters for the FAMILY Act and the Healthy Families Act. You can also use http://www.wetweet.org/ to tweet to legislators and those running for office about the issues that matter most to you!

Allowing Workers to Earn Sick Time Benefits Businesses Bottom Line!

Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) released a cost-benefit analysis of allowing workers in Philadelphia to earn paid sick days. Their findings completely contradict the claims of anti-worker politicians and industry groups that a sick leave ordinance would hurt businesses – turns out the policy would actually save Philadelphia businesses money.

IWPR calculates that Philadelphia businesses could see a net annual savings of over $574,000 if the sick leave ordinance passes. Here's how they got there:

• Cost: Providing sick days is equivalent to a $0.25 increase in hourly wages, or about $8.59 per week per That part will cost about $44 million total. If you assume that covered workers who give birth and half their partners use all of their available sick days, that’s an additional $11 million. If you factor in the fact that sick workers are less productive even when they do come to work, meaning a current loss of about $4 million, the total cost to employers come out to about $51 million. 
• Benefits to Employers: The anticipated savings of healthy workers, increased productivity, and reduced turnover is also equivalent to a wage savings of $0.25 per hour, or $8.69 per employee per week. That translates to about $52 million in savings for employers. 
• Benefits to the Community: So instead of workers coming in while sick and potentially infecting coworkers, customers, and patients, they are staying home and getting better. Between reduced nursing home stays, reduced emergency room visits, decreased use of medical supplies, fewer people needing treatment for the flu and other diseases, improved public health, better economic security from stable employment, and reduced expenditures on public assistance programs, IWPR estimates a community savings of $24 million. 
• What Can’t Be Fully Measured: Anecdotally, workplaces where workers can earn paid sick days aren’t just healthier. There is a respect between employers and employees that doesn’t arise when workers have to be deceitful about their illnesses or their need to take care of a sick child. Also, with reduced turnover comes more long-term, stable employment, which could mean more advancement opportunities and less need to constantly retrain new workers. Even if you can’t fully measure it, there’s a sense of pride, security, and responsibility that comes with long-term employment, versus getting work in fits and starts. 

Contact your City Council member and ask them to support earned sick days for all of Philadelphia!
Sign Working America's petition asking City Council to pass earned sick days.

Sick with the Flu? Stay Home...But How?

Story after story carries the common-sense recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that people who are feeling sick should stay home. The CDC includes this as a foremost component of flu treatment and prevention.

But what many don't realize is that staying home when you're sick is a privilege in this country -- one that more than 40 percent of the private sector workforce does not have because no matter how long they hold their jobs or how hard they work, they can't earn a single paid sick day. Millions more can't earn any paid sick days to use to care for a sick child or family member.

During the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, an estimated 7 million people in the United States caught the flu from their co-workers. And according to the American Journal of Public Health, people without paid sick days were at greater risk of being exposed to the virus.

We can't prevent the flu, but we can slow the spread of contagion and prevent low-income families from facing impossible choices when the flu or other illnesses strike. Please share this with your friends and families and ask them to call their City Councilmember or Congressional Representative to discuss the need for earned sick days.

The Numbers Behind the Philly Fight for Paid Sick Days

Restaurant Opportunity Center

Behind the Kitchen Door, released two weeks ago by Philly ROC, is a 65-page report conducted by talking to restaurant workers and employers and using the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to put local working conditions into perspective.

The information reflects a tone which argues restaurant workers should be provided paid sick days and a higher tipped minimum wage, among other things, using statistics regarding employees working sick because they don’t earn enough to take time off.

Read the Full Article
Read the ROC Report

Paid Sick Days Becoming Virginia Senate Campaign Issue!

Women's Town Hall in Virginia for Senate Candidate Time Kaine (D) brings Paid Sick Leave to the forefront.

More workers are taking unpaid leave to care for children and family because paid sick leave is not available. This puts job security in danger and forces women and men alike into a precarious position.

Read the full story here:
Here

Tell your councilman the Paid Sick Days should be addressed Today!
Philadelphia City Council

Katie Couric on the Need for Paid Sick Days

In Katie Couric's Notebook this week on the CBS Evening News, she discusses why she thinks legislation providing workers with paid sick days is "fair...and long overdue."

Washington Post: Why you should care about paid sick leave

A Washington Post Blogger recently wrote about how the vast majority of restaurant workers lack the ability to earn any paid sick time.  This forces most servers and cooks to go work, where they handle people's food and drinks, while ill. 

Below is an excerpt from the blog:

If you're about to eat in a restaurant, you should read this first.

Or then again, maybe you'd rather not.

A report being released at a Congressional hearing later this morning by the D.C.-based Restaurant Opportunities Centers United ("a national restaurant workers' organization, comprised of restaurant worker organizations across the country," according to its Web site) says, among other key findings from its survey of more than 4,000 restaurant workers nationwide, that "nearly 90% of workers said they did not receive paid sick days. As a result, two thirds of respondents said they had worked while sick in the previous year, preparing, cooking and serving food."

Ick.

The restaurant workers' organization is one of many advocates across the country pushing for passage of the Healthy Families Act, whose provisions include requiring employers to provide sick leave. A poll released this summer showed that most Americans favor such a law.

To read the full post click here.  To hear one server's story about having to go to work sick please visit the Working Families Story Bank.

Huffington Post: A New Labor Standard for Labor Day: Paid Sick Leave

In addition to writing an Op-Ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Jake Blumgart authored a piece on paid sick days for the Huffington Post. An excerpt is below:

By: Jake Blumgart

A recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report shows only 33 percent of workers earning $10.50 an hour or less have access to paid sick leave, compared with 81 percent of those earning $24.22 an hour or more. This means, perversely, that if you can afford to take an unpaid sick day, you generally don't have to.

Politicians and policy advocates across the country are aware of this squeeze on working families, and paid sick leave bills have been introduced at the city, state, and national levels. Most of these proposals are based on the earned sick time model: Employees must work, say, 30 hours to earn one hour of sick leave. Those earned hours accumulate, eventually, into full paid sick days. All the proposals include a cap on the number of mandated paid sick days. Most require five to nine days a year. Some allow employees to carry over unused sick days from one year to the next.

"The economic climate makes it even more important for lawmakers to act because, in this economy, workers can ill-afford to miss a paycheck or risk the long-term unemployment that often follows losing a job," said Vicki Shabo, Director of Work & Family Programs for the National Partnership for Women & Families. "Workers shouldn't have to put their economic stability and job security on the line every time they get sick. It's bad for business, bad for workers, and bad public policy."

For the complete article please click here.

Take Action for Women's Equality Day!

Suffrage Pageant, 1913

In the United States, August 26th is recognized as Women's Equality Day to commemorate the full voting rights given to women when the 19th Amendment was passed in 1920. This year we mark the 90th year of full voting rights for women and take this opportunity to focus on the inequities that remain.

Take Action Now!

On Women's Equality Day this year, 9to5: The National Association of Working Women, PathWays PA, and The Coalition for Healthy Families and Workplaces are inviting its members, activists, volunteers, allies and others to speak out, raise awareness, and take action for our paid sick days campaign.

Celebrate Women's Equality!

Nearly 40 million private sector employees have no access to earned sick days, including a high proportion of women. According to a survey released in June 2010, while 71 percent of men surveyed reported having paid sick days, only 57 percent of women earned the same benefit. Low-wage workers and workers in female-dominated fields like childcare and food service are far less likely to have access to earned sick days.

There are three ways that you can take action:
Sign our petition in support of earned sick days.
Write a letter to your legislators letting them know how important earned sick days are to you.
Write a letter to the editor (with our easy new letter-writing software) talking about the difference earned sick days can make.

Thank you for taking the time to make a difference and for celebrating Women's Equality Day!

image courtesy of http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Suffrage_pageant_Washington_1913.jpg

Take Action for Women's Equality Day (August 26)!

The 19th Amendment

This year on Women's Equality Day, we are speaking out on the need for earned sick time.  Here are some things you can do to help:

• Sign our petition in support of earned sick days. 
• Write a letter to your legislators letting them know how important earned sick days are to you
• Write a letter to the editor (with our new letter-writing software) talking about the difference earned sick days can make

image courtesy of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:19th_Amendment_Pg1of1_AC.jpg

Pictures from the Earned Sick Days Coffee Hour

Guests at the coffee hour network with each other.  Approximately 25 people came for "coffee with content" to learn more about earned sick days.

Guest had the opportunity to see a video highlighting stories of some workers without earned sick time.  You can tell your own story by contacting the Coalition at policy@pathwayspa.org.

Following the video, Kistine Carolan of Maternity Care Coalition and others discussed times when they needed paid sick days.  Many people had stories to tell.

At the end of the event, Rebecca Foley talked about legislation supporting earned sick days at the state, local, and national level.  Over 26 cities and states are working on legislation similar to what is proposed in Philadelphia and in Pennsylvania.

America’s Budget Matters: So Does Yours

Our friends at Wider Opportunities for Women are hosting a "Budget Matters" Blogging Day today. They challenged people to blog about two questions: "What can President Obama and Congress do to help Americans be economically secure while balancing the budget? And what do President Obama and Congress need to know about your budget – or that of those you represent?" You can go to their site and blog your own answers to these questions, and see what other people have to say.

In every budget, families try to make contingency plans – to save money for unforeseen circumstances. But in this time of recession, when families are unemployed, underemployed, or facing wage freezes, making ends meet becomes more difficult every day. When something unpredicted happens – say, a family member who comes down with the flu or something worse – the effects are felt emotionally, physically, and monetarily.

In the United States, almost 2 in 5 private sector workers lack any access to paid sick time. When they, or their family members, are sick, these households must look for ways to stretch their incomes to cover unpaid time off, even though their budget may be past the breaking point. For some workers, taking sick time may mean they lose more than pay – it may mean the loss of a job. Only one in three low-wage workers has earned sick time, meaning they are particularly vulnerable to economic problems when they are unable to work due to an illness.

By 2012, one-half of all workers in the United States are expected to be a caregiver for an ill and aging family member. Already 64 percent of caregivers report the need to leave work early, come to work late, or take time off to care for an aging relative.

What does this have to do with Congress and your budget? Well, Congress can take action to ensure that workers have the opportunity to earn sick time and paid family leave. According to IWPR, passage of the Healthy Families Act would result in workers saving over $100 million per year in out-of-pocket expenses for the seasonal flu alone; paid family leave to care for elderly parents or other relatives could save over $700 million annually by avoiding temporary placement in care facilities.

Please ask Congress to take action on earned sick time and paid family leave today so that all families can have a balanced budget tomorrow.

Thank Goodness for Paid Sick Days

Cross-posted from PathWays PA's Policy Blog. 

On Monday morning I woke up feeling horrible. I had to struggle to get myself out of bed, showered, and ready for work, but it soon became clear that I was not going to able to get to the office that day.

Luckily, I am part of the only 52 percent of Americans that has paid sick days. I was able to email my boss and let her know I would not be in the office without any fear of losing pay or losing my job. I was able to stay home, take care of myself, and get better so I could come into work today ready to get things done, instead of struggling to focus while being sick.

For the 48 percent of Americans without paid sick days, when they get sick, they have to choose between going to work sick and risking their paychecks or even their jobs. They do not have the choice to stay home and get better without ramifications. Many will go to work, be less productive, be sick longer and potentially spread their illness to their co-workers. Others will choose to stay home, and risk losing their paychecks or jobs – 1 in 6 workers say their job or the job of a family member has been threatened or lost due to the need for sick time.

Congress is currently working on legislation, the Healthy Families Act, to give all Americans the same opportunity I had Monday morning. Under this legislation, workers would have the opportunity to earn up to seven days each year to care for themselves and their families. For every 40 hours they work, an individual would earn 1 hour in sick time. Please contact your legislators and tell them we all need paid sick days!

"Sick And Tired Of No Sick Leave"

Last week, NPR and The Nation published a story on the need for earned sick days that came out of the "Making it Work: Advancing Workplace Policies for Today's Families Conference" we were attending.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Fifty million workers in America — including 40 percent of the private workforce — lack paid sick days.
• The average cost for sick leave per employer-hour worked in the private sector was just 23 cents.
• According to IWPR, passage of the Healthy Families Act would result in workers saving over $100 million per year in out-of-pocket expenses for the seasonal flu alone; paid family leave to care for elderly parents or other relatives could save over $700 million annually by avoiding temporary placement in care facilities. 

What can you do to help all workers earn a minimal amount of time to use when they or their families are sick?

• Contact your Congressperson right now to ask him or her to cosponsor the Healthy Families Act.
• Tell us your story! Email us at policy@pathwayspa.org to tell us about your experience with earned sick time.
• Sign our petition, which we will take to the Pennsylvania Legislature and to Philadelphia's City Council.
• Please call your state representative and ask him or her to ensure all workers have access to earned sick time by cosponsoring and supporting HB 1830, The Healthy Families, Healthy Workplaces Act.
• If you live in Philadelphia, please call your City Councilperson and ask him or her to ensure all workers have access to earned sick time by cosponsoring and supporting Bill No. 080474, Promoting Healthy Families and Workplaces

image courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/fsse-info/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

Media Advisory: Earned Sick Days as Next Step in Containing Healthcare Costs

PA Workers Head to DC To Call for Earned Sick Days as Next Step in Containing Healthcare Costs

White House Advisor Terrell McSweeny to Address Public Health & Family Advocates Who Are Urging Passage of Healthy Families Act

Secretary of Labor to Give Monday Remarks on Work & Family Policies

Washington, DC – On Tuesday, workers from Pennsylvania will join with small business owners and advocates from around the country to unveil findings showing the effect a national earned sick days standard would have for the 50 million workers in America who lack paid sick time.  Giving these 50 million workers – including 40% of the private workforce in the U.S.– the opportunity to earn sick days would help contain health care costs while preventing workers from “choosing” between their health and their job when illness strikes.

Terrell McSweeny, Domestic Policy Advisor to the Vice President and Deputy Assistant to the President, will address the group as they call for passage of the Healthy Families Act (HR 2460/S 1152). McSweeny represents the White House Middle Class Task Force, whose annual report notes that the economic stability of middle-class families depends in part on policies that help families balance work and care giving obligations.

Small business owners and workers will travel from Pennsylvania— as well as other states around the country including Georgia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Washington— to share stories about the value of paid sick leave and family leave insurance during the recession.

The briefing, by the Institute for Women's Policy Research with the National Partnership for Women & Families and Family Values at Work, will present new findings that explain how the federal legislation to provide up to 7 paid sick days would build on the historic momentum of health care reform, establish a critical safety net during the recession and advance the health and economic security of all Americans.

The Tuesday briefing will follow Monday remarks from Labor Secretary Hilda Solis — to be delivered at 6:00PM at the Fairfax Hotel — about workplace policies that help workers manage their responsibilities at work and at home. The events build on a growing tide of support from the Obama administration for work and family policies, including paid sick days and paid family leave.

WHO:    Business Owners and Workers from around the country
Terrell McSweeny, Domestic Policy Advisor to the Vice President and Deputy Assistant to the President; Middle Class Task Force
Ellen Bravo, Family Values at Work
Debra Ness, National Partnership for Women & Families
Kevin Miller, Institute for Women's Policy Research

WHAT:    Press Conference featuring federal paid sick days analysis and stories from small business owners and workers

WHEN:     Tuesday, April 27th
9:00 AM, Eastern
        
WHERE:     Capitol Visitors Center
Room SVC 202-203
Washington, DC

Contact mbellesorte@pathwayspa.org for more information.

We're at a Conference for the Next Two Days...

But you can still get updates! We will be tweeting what we learn at this week's "Making it Work: Advancing Workplace Policies for Today's Families Conference" on one of our Twitter feeds, @EarnedSickTime.

Joint Economic Committee Report on Earned Sick Time

Last week, the Joint Economic Committee released a report showing the impact that The Healthy Families Act would have on workers in the United States.  The Healthy Families Act is a federal bill that would ensure workers whose companies employ 15 or more would have the opportunity to earn up to 56 hours of earned sick time each year to care for themselves or for ill family members, or to use in the aftermath of domestic violence.  Currently, there is no law that ensures workers have access to earned sick time, leaving 40 percent of the private sector without paid sick time.

According to the Joint Economic Committee report:

• As a result of the Healthy Families Act, at least 30.3 million additional workers would have access to earned sick time. Almost half of the increased access to paid sick leave (14.7 million additional workers) would accrue to workers in the bottom wage quartile.
• Among these workers would be 6 million food service workers and 1.4 million personal care workers. Currently, only 2.3 million food service workers and 1.3 million personal care workers have access to earned sick time. These workers are often low-wage (making unpaid time off unaffordable) and come into contact with vulnerable populations through their jobs.

To learn more, please read the report, and visit the JEC website to see related links and files.

Image courtesy of: http://www.flickr.com/photos/amigurumisweet/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

Quit Horsing Around - We Need Paid Sick Days for All Workers

cross-posted on the PathWays PA Policy Blog

In New York City the Health Department has proposed a new rule which would call for horses that are hitched to carriages that carry tourists to be given five weeks of job protected vacations every year. The horses would continue to enjoy their standard payment, room and board, during this time. This new regulation is not just for the humane treatment of animals but also the time off would likely prolong the horse’s work-life and enhance their productivity.

As discussed by Jodie Levin-Epstein in the Huffington Post:

Vacations are good for your health. And, you don't need to get away to any fancy Caribbean retreat to get the benefit of time-off from work. But it helps if you are a horse. In New York City, that is. It's time for Congress and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to pony-up to the value of vacation for two-legged workers.

In the United States, there is no minimum standard for even paid sick leave, leaving 48 percent of workers have no paid sick days, which includes 79 percent of childcare workers and 78 percent of food-service workers.

How can this be resolved? At the Federal level, The Healthy Families Act (S910, HR1542) proposes up to 7 days of paid sick leave for full time employees, with pro-rated leave for part-time workers. In Pennsylvania and Philadelphia similar legislation has also been introduced.

Please contact your legislators today and tell them to quit horsing around and give workers this basic right to be able to stay home when sick. Click on the links below for their contact information.

• Federal – Senators and Representative
• State – Senator and Representative
• City – Council Members

You can also tell your story! Are you a parent who lost their job to stay home with a sick child? Are you a business owner who provides/supports paid sick days? Are you a server or child care worker who has gone to work sick out of fear of losing your job? Share your story in the comment section below or email your story to us at policy@pathwayspa.org.

Image courtesy of: http://www.lovetoeatandtravel.com/Site/US/NY/Fun/carriage.htm

Caregiving in the United States Today

cross-posted from the PathWays PA Policy Blog

A new report from the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP reveals the demographics and characteristics of adults providing care for other adults over 50 in the United States. This report, Caregiving in the U.S.: A Focused Look at Those Caring for Someone Age 50 or Older, examines the changes in caregivers and care recipients since 2004.

Among the numbers, one set that stands out shows the number of caregivers who needed work accommodations to provide care. 68 percent of caregivers reported needing some accommodation, an increase of 5 percentage points from 2004. Most caregivers (64 percent) reported a need to go to work late, leave early, or take time off to provide care, an increase of 6 percentage points since 2004. Almost 75 percent of caregivers work.

The need for caregiving is only going to grow as the US population continues to age. In the next 25 years, the number of Americans over age 65 is expected to double. In 2012, little more than two years away, half of the labor force is expected to be a caregiver.

We need to take steps now to ensure that caregivers have the support they need in the workplace. Legislation such as the Healthy Families Act, which gives workers the opportunity to earn up to seven days of paid leave per year to care for themselves or their family, can mean the difference to caregivers who struggle to keep their jobs and provide the services their recipient needs. The CLASS Act, meanwhile, would give workers the opportunity to begin setting aside money now that could be used in retirement to pay for long-term care in the home. It is currently part of the healthcare reform package.

Please take action on these important bills, and continue reading to learn more from the new report on caregiving. A few other findings:

• In 2009, there are 43.5 million caregivers (about 19 percent of all adults) providing unpaid care for someone over 50. Most care for family members, often their mother. On average, caregivers are 50 years old, while care recipients are 75. In contrast, caregivers and care recipients in 2004 were on average two years younger than those surveyed this year.
• Old age and Alzheimer's/confusion were tied as the main illness identified by the caregiver, with each receiving 15 percent of the results. Interestingly, those reporting Alzheimer's increased significantly, from 8 percent in 2004 to 15 percent in 2009. The study's authors attribute increased reports of Alzheimer's to the aging of the population in care. Most other illnesses remained unchanged, although there were significantly decreased reports of diabetes as the main factor.