Study Finds You Can Combat Flu in the Workplace with Paid Sick Days!

Allowing all employees access to paid sick days would reduce the spread of flu, a new study from the University of Pittsburgh finds.

"Influenza has a huge burden of costs on the United States. "We found that if you increase the proportion of people staying home, if you increase how long each person stays home for one additional day, you reduce influenza."  

The Pitt School of Public Health researchers modeled two potential policies to increase paid sick leave. In their first model, the researchers mimicked government mandated sick leave by having 72 percent of the entire county population take 1.7 days off from work. Influenza in the population decreased by 6 percent.

In their second model, the researchers instead awarded every employee one paid "flu day." In this simulation, 72 percent of the employees with paid sick leave took 2.7 days off, while 52 percent of employees without paid sick leave took one day off. In this case, influenza fell by nearly 25 percent.

Ms. Kumar believes this data will make a strong case to implement universal access to paid sick leave.

NutterWatch: 8 Days To Make Job Security Real For Philadelphians

On March 14, 2013, Philadelphia City Council passed a bill providing the opportunity for most workers in the city of Philadelphia to earn paid sick days. Mayor Michael Nutter has until April 4, 2013, to sign the bill into law or to let it leave his desk unsigned.

Either choice will pave the way for nearly 200,000 workers in Philadelphia to have access to earned sick days for the first time.

Until April 4, or until the Mayor signs the bill, NutterWatch will be here to give you the latest updates and to share the latest stories. To add your name to a petition asking Mayor Nutter to sign the bill, please click here.

Today marks 13 days since Philadelphia City Council passed the Healthy Families and Workplaces Act, which will allow workers to earn up to 7 days of paid sick time to care for themselves or their family members. One of many Philadelphia workers waiting for Mayor Nutter to sign the bill is Michael Cockrell, a cook and dishwasher.

Michael has been in the restaurant industry for 13 years. He works to support himself and his seven year old son. Why are earned sick days so important to Michael?

Well, Michael has worked in restaurant kitchens while sick with the flu.

He has worked when his son had an asthma attack and had to be hospitalized.

He has worked despite cutting himself so badly slicing tomatoes that he had to get stitches - once his shift ended and he was allowed to leave.

“If I wasn’t fearful of being terminated, I wouldn’t have gone to work [in these situations]," he told the Bloomberg News. But until Mayor Nutter takes action, Michael must continue to worry about the fact that his job and his economic security depend on not catching the next cold that comes around.

Mayor Nutter can change Michael's life, and the lives of 200,000 workers, with the swipe of a pen. You can ask him to make that change here.


In the News

Councilman Bill Greenlee, the main sponsor of the Philadelphia earned sick days bill, opines in The Philadelphia Daily News that

 "Our city's economy is on the rebound thanks to the hard work of tens of thousands in the restaurant, health care, child care, and hospitality industries. They deserve to earn sick pay so they don't have to lose a day's wages or put the public's health at risk by coming to work sick."

Where in the World is Mayor Nutter?

Mayor Nutter has no events on his calendar for today. You can find his daily schedule at http://www.phila.gov/mayor/itinerary.html.

Free Flu Vaccines for Restaurant Workers - Jan. 22 12-4pm

From our friends at the Restaurant Opportunities Center Philadelphia.  To get involved with the Restaurant Opportunities Center, a national restaurant workers organization, or to learn more about their work with the Coalition for Healthy Families and Workplaces earned sick day campaign in Philadelphia, please email sheila@rocunited.org.

Sign up online:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?fromEmail=true&formkey=dEowdnU5ekFMekdUWTQ0VVhkVDZ2eHc6MQ

During the worst flu season in a decade, 93% of restaurant workers in Philadelphia do not have access to health insurance or earned sick days. As a result 2/3 of restaurant workers have reported having to work while sick. The lack of sick days afforded to restaurant workers creates a breeding ground for a public health crisis during flu season. According to the American Journal of Public Health, lack of paid sick time led to an estimated 5 million additional cases of H1N1 flu in 2009.

In order to keep restaurant workers, their families and consumer safe during restaurant week, the Restaurant Opportunities Center and Thomas Jefferson University, Center for Urban Studies are partnering to provide free flu vaccinations for restaurant workers.

Vaccines will take place on January 22 from 12-4pm at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Center for Urban Health. 211 South 9th St, Suite 313 (across the street from the NeuroScience Hospital).

To register for a vaccine, please fill out the form here.

Please also take a moment to sign the petition asking City Councilman James Kenney (former restaurant worker) to vote YES on the earned sick day bill coming before City Council Jan. 24, 2013. http://www.change.org/petitions/councilman-james-kenney-vote-yes-on-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.

"‘Contagion: Not Just a Movie’ Begins New Front in Earned Sick Days Fight"

Please check out this article on Philadelphia Weekly's website about the "Contagion" webshort featuring a worker from Philadelphia. Then call City Council at 800-584-6813 and tell them about your support for paid sick days or email the video to Council.

MomsRising Paid Sick Days Blog Carnival

Thank you to MomsRising who put together a Blog Carnival focusing on the need for paid sick days in Philadelphia. Some of the authors include Coalition partners, national experts, and moms. See a list of the blog posts below.

An Apple A Day Isn’t Enough: Blog-A-Thon For Philadelphia’s Earned Sick Days Law, by Ruth Martin, MomsRising. “Planning, preparation, prevention – it all comes with the territory of being a mom. We try to head off as many accidents and illnesses as we can; we child-proof, we carry hand sanitizer, and we teach our kids to wash their hands. But there is a big hole in our safety net: Two out of five – that’s 41% – of Philadelphia employees are not allowed by their employers to earn even a single paid sick day to care for their own health and thousands more are unable to take a paid day to care for a sick child or parent.”

In the City of Brotherly and Sisterly Love, A Chance to Stand Up For Working Families, by Vicki Shabo, National Partnership for Women and Families. “With more than 210,000 working people in Philadelphia lacking access to paid sick days, approving a law to establish a standard should be common sense for the City Council.”

Bad Economics Meet Paid Sick Days in Philadelphia, by Robert Drago, Institute for Women’s Policy Research. “A new study for the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) estimates that Philadelphia’s proposed paid sick days legislation would cost employers between $350 million and $752 million annually. Both the factual basis and the assumptions underlying this study are seriously flawed.”

Support Paid Sick Days In Philadelphia! by Angie Norris, Studio 34 Yoga. A Philadelphia nurse who’s also a small business owner shares her perspective on providing paid sick days. Thank you to Angie for providing earned sick time!

In Philadelphia, A Healthy Workforce and a Healthy Business Environment Go Together, by Amy Traub, Demos. “In an era of high unemployment, good policymaking also requires that we answer another question: how would guaranteeing all working people in Philadelphia the right to earn paid sick leave impact the city’s economy?”

Philadelphians deserve right to time off when sick, by Kathy Black, president of the Coalition of Labor Union Women, Philadelphia chapter. “Paid sick days is a policy that’s good for workers, good for families and good for our community. And businesses in other cities that have a paid sick day law say the law has no negative impact on profitability – by a measure of 6 to 1!”

Apocalypse Never: Earned Sick Days Provide Benefit, Not Doom, by Jake Blumgart. “Rather than just making fretful predictions, we should look at empirical evidence gathered from successfully implemented paid sick leave bills.”

This boss doesn’t mind paid sick days, by Dewetta Logan. The owner of a small childcare center in West Philly shares her experience in providing earned sick time. And– BIG thank you to Dewetta for protecting your employees and the kids you all care for by providing earned sick time!

Economists say paid sick days will help Philadelphia make progress toward economic recovery, by Marianne Bellesorte

Letter to the Editor: Workers Need the Opportunity to Earn Sick Days, by Diane Mohney. Certified school nurse offers her 29 years of wisdom and experience in explaining the need for sick days. Scroll all the way to the end to check it out.

Faith leaders sign letter in support of earned sick days in Philadelphia, by Kate Scully. Faith leaders sign a letter to Mayor Nutter in support of providing all workers in Philadelphia with the opportunity to earn paid sick days.

Philadelphia Business Journal: Sick Days for Healthy Recovery, by Eileen Appelbaum and Lonnie Golden. “Mandating paid sick days is one policy that will help employers keep workers in jobs.” Subscribers can read the entire article.

Every Parent wants to protect their children, by Barbara Lovelace of north Philadelphia. Barbara shares the agonizing decision her daughter had to make: Stay by Barbara’s side as she lay in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit, or return to her job as a cashier worrying about whether her mother would pass away while she was on the job.

Status Update: I support paid sick days!, by Marianne Bellesorte. If you can’t make it to City Hall, join our virtual Facebook rally to support earned sick time in Philly!

Support Paid Sick Days For Philadelphia Families, by Jennifer at PhillyFun4Kids.We take a moment out of bringing you Philly’s best family friendly free or mostly free fun to think about this…In Philadelphia over 40% of workers do not have the ability to earn any paid sick days.

Mothers Gather at Childspace to Support Earned Sick Days, by Zach Subar. Power of one(sies) decorated with messages like “Moms rock!” also tell the story of why paid sick days are a family friendly policy.

Using NFIB Economist’s Estimates on Paid Sick Days: It’s Not Cricket, by Steve Herzenberg.  Herzenberg shows that even if readers oppose paid sick days, they shouldn’t use the Dunkelberg estimates because, well, “It’s not cricket.” The estimates are so transparently inflated that folks who live in a fact-based world shouldn’t use them.

Philadelphia Paid Sick Days Law Would Allow Workers to Take Care of Their Chronic Conditions, by Andrea Lindemann.  In Philadelphia, there’s a disconnect between public health initiatives and access to care. The reason? Lack of paid time off to get to the doctor to care for chronic conditions. 

It’s time now for workers to be able to earn paid sick days in Philly and across the country, by Linda Meric.   Millions of Americans working without paid sick days face the impossible choice between caring for their health and that of their family, and keeping their paycheck or job. At a time when many families are worried about their financial security, the threat of losing a job or needed wages forces many workers to go to work even though they are ill.

Rooting for Passage of Paid Sick Days in Philadelphia, by Ellen Bravo.  Every night a second grade teacher washes the top cover of her reading couch because some child has had to come to class with the flu rather than staying home alone.

Pennsylvania Department of Health’s Flu Recommendations for Business

On their website the Pennsylvania Department of Public Health lists recommendations for businesses on the prevention and treatment of influenza. Influenza (“the flu”) is a sudden, respiratory disease that spreads easily. It is characterized by the sudden onset of fever, body aches, sore throat, headache, tiredness and cough.

The second recommendation from the Department includes:

Employees with symptoms of the flu should not come to work. Excluding ill employees from the work place can help reduce the spread of the illness to other employees.

While in practice this seems like a logical choice for workers, in Pennsylvania over 2.2 million workers do not receive any paid sick days. These workers face the difficult choice of going to work sick or losing a days pay or possibly their job. Faced with that choice many will go to work and risk infecting their co-workers, customers, and the public at large. This is particularly problematic as the industries that have the largest numbers of workers without paid sick day are those that handle our food or care for out children.

If you think that allowing workers to earn paid sick days is important come to the Coalition for Healthy Families and Workplaces’ Letter Writing Party on December 7th from 8:00 AM – 10:00 AM at the United Way Building of Southeastern Pennsylvania (1709 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA). Help us urge legislators to protect the public by protecting workers.