Two Quick Updates on Paid Sick Days Across the Country

• A survey conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute shows that 78% of Americans favor requiring companies to offer paid family leave for childbirth or adoption. The same study shows that 81% of Americans favor requiring companies to offer paid sick days to full-time employees to use when the employees or their immediate family members are ill. 
• A Better Balance has published an updated list of cities and states with earned sick time laws.

"Movement for Paid Sick Leave Spreads"

In Philadelphia, a citywide sick leave law was vetoed by a corporate-friendly Democratic mayor, but a compromise bill that mandated paid leave just for city contractors passed last year. Its effects will be small, so organizers are trying again this year for a broader bill, noting that the 2011 municipal elections produced the largest freshman class on the city council in nearly three decades.

Gwen Snyder, an organizer with Philadelphia Jobs with Justice, sees paid sick leave as a workplace justice issue: “For unions, the work is important because these are reforms that raise the ground for all workers.”

Read the full article at http://www.indypendent.org/2012/03/04/movement-paid-sick-leave-spreads.

The Most Recent Data on Paid Sick Days

From our friends at the National Partnership for Women and Families.

In this most recent data, employers report that 63% of private-sector workers have access to paid sick leave (an increase of 1 percentage point from the 2010 data) – which means that more than 37 million workers do not have any paid sick leave. (But recall that, as IWPR’s 2010 analysis shows, there are more workers who have not been on the job long enough to accrue or use sick leave). In the new BLS data, gaps between the lowest- and highest- wage workers continue to be quite dramatic – just 21% of workers in the lowest wage decile (workers earning $8.25 hour or less) have access to paid sick days compared to 87% of workers in the highest wage decile (workers earning $37.89 or more). Only about four in ten of workers in the service industry (43%) have access to paid sick leave.

In These Times: Momentum Builds for Guaranteed Paid Sick Days Legislation

Below is a blog post from In These Times that shows how momentum is building through out the nation for paid sick days.  States and City throughout the country are working on or considering legislation and support for such legislation is growing.

Buoyed by Connecticut's enactment this month of the nation’s first state law guaranteeing paid sick days to most workers, more than 200 organizers for paid family leave and paid sick days pushed for national legislation this week as they gathered in Washington, D.C.

Their movement is picking up steam, despite the obstacles in Congress and in many states to passing any legislation helping workers. The organizers, most linked to either Family Values @ Work or the National Partnership for Women and Families, came from 23 states and the District of Columbia. Though success with federal legislation in this Congress is unlikely, they anticipate passage of paid sick day legislation in the coming months in Seattle, Denver, New York City, and possibly both Massachusetts and, in a weak form, Georgia.

The failure of many employers to provide paid sick days, and the failure of the country, alone among advanced industrial countries, to mandate such protection causes great personal hardship. Torrie Moffett of Milwaukee, for example, lost four jobs in five years because she had to take time off to address school problems of her mentally ill child. None of her employers paid for sick leave or protected workers against dismissal for taking days off for sickness, as much of the new legislation mandates.

New research by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research indicates that even at workplaces with paid sick days, nearly half of workers report that management has policies that could lead to dismissal for taking too many sick days.

To read the complete story please click here.

Top Blog Posts of 2010 from the Coalition for Healthy Families and Workplaces

It has been a busy year for the Coalition for Healthy Families and Workplaces, and the first full year of our blog!  While we are writing up a wrap-up of the year, please take a moment to read some of the most-viewed stories from our blog in 2010.  And to get ready for 2011, check out this post on our sister blog (PathWays PA Policy Blog) about committing to advocacy in the new year!

The most read posts of the year are:

5. PCN Video on Need for Earned Sick Time, September 20, 2010
4. Four Stories on Yesterday's Earned Sick Time Forum, March 11, 2010
3. New Video on the Need for Sick Time in Pennsylvania, August 31, 2010
2. Huffington Post: A New Labor Standard for Labor Day, September 7, 2010
1. Presentations from Today's Public Forum on Earned Sick Time, March 10, 2010

What were your favorite posts from 2010?

The Time for Paid Sick Days Is Now: Survey Shows Overwhelming Public Support for a Paid Sick Days Workplace Standard

Thank you to our friends at the National Partnership for Women and Families for the information below.

A new survey conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago and commissioned by the Public Welfare Foundation demonstrates that lack of access to paid sick days has significant negative consequences for public health, health care costs, and families’ financial security. The survey also shows that overwhelming majorities support paid sick days laws as a matter of basic labor policy.

The survey results could not be clearer: It is time for policymakers to guarantee access to paid sick days to the over 40 million U.S. workers who currently lack them. Workers should not have to risk their job to care for their families and shouldn’t have to risk their own-well-being—and the public’s health—to do their job.

Key Findings on Health and Economic Security

Lack of Access to Paid Sick Days Impacts Public Health

• More than half of all workers without paid sick days (55%) have gone to work sick. And workers without paid sick days are nearly twice as likely as those with paid sick days to say they have sent their child to school or daycare sick. As the 2009 H1N1 pandemic most recently showed, going to work or school while sick increases the likelihood of spreading infection and creates significant public health risks.

Lack of Access to Paid Sick Days Drives Up Health Care Costs

• Workers without access to paid sick days are twice as likely as those with access to say they have gone to the emergency room to get care for themselves because they were unable to take time off of work to get medical care. Workers without paid sick days are two-and-a-half times as likely to say they have taken a child or other family member to the emergency room because they were unable to take time off of work. Unnecessary ER visits mean additional burdens on our health care system and cost billions of dollars per year.

Lack of Access to Paid Sick Days Jeopardizes Workers’ Economic Security

• Workers face job loss and workplace discipline for taking sick time. Nearly one quarter of workers (23%) say they have lost a job or were told they would lose a job for taking time off to deal with a personal or family illness, including nearly one-sixth (16%) who say they have actually lost a job. Nearly one-sixth (16%) also say they or a family member were fired, suspended, written up or otherwise penalized or were told they would face such penalties for illness-related absences.

Key Findings about Public Attitudes

Public Support for a Paid Sick Days Law Is Broad and Runs Deep 

Across demographic and political backgrounds, the public overwhelmingly supports a law that would guarantee paid sick days to all workers. Fully three-quarters (75%) favor a law providing a “minimum number” of paid sick days for all workers. Eighty-six percent favor a specific proposal that requires 7 paid sick days annually for full-time employees, including 69% who strongly favor providing workers with 7 paid sick days.

• Eighty-five percent of seniors and 82% of retirees—a group that is particularly likely to need care—favor a law providing a minimum number of paid sick days.

• Women (88%), African-Americans (90%), and unmarried parents (85%)—precisely those with lower access rates and more caregiving responsibilities—are particularly strong supporters.

The Public Views Paid Sick Days as a Worker’s Right

• Three-quarters of respondents agree that paid sick days is a basic worker’s right, just like being paid a decent wage. Seven in ten (69%) say paid sick days are a very important standard to protect workers’ rights—the same share as believe minimum wage and overtime laws are very important.

For more information about the work the National Partnership for Women and Families on paid sick days please visit www.paidsickdays.org.

Looking for Resources for Your Clients, Your Friends, or Yourself?

PathWays PA has begun a new blog designed to share our resources online!

As a nonprofit organization that serves more than 6,000 women, children, and families in the Greater Philadelphia area each year, PathWays PA has developed a number of resources to help us meet our mission: "To help women, teens, children and families achieve economic independence and family well-being."  Throughout the past thirteen months or so, you have been able to access some of these resources through our website, this blog, and our sister blog, The PathWays PA Policy Blog.  Now, you can access even more resources on our newest blog, PathWays PA Resource Library.

PathWays PA Resource Library is a compilation of financial education and asset development resources, public benefits information, and career tools for agency staff and community members.  It will be run by PathWays PA's AmeriCorps VISTA members, and will cover topics including:

• banking
• budgeting
• cover letter
• credit
• emergency shelter
• homelessness
• identity theft
• job search
• resume
• tax credits
• taxes

Please follow our blog, and let us know what you think!

"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.

Call Your Senators Today to Support the State Paid Leave Fund

From our friends at MomsRising.

A letter circulating in the halls of the Senate needs only a handful of Senators to sign on in order to have a large impact.

Please call your Senators and ask them to sign on to a "member-to-member" letter, which is a letter to Senators from Senators. The letter asks the Senate Appropriations Committee to support full funding of a State Paid Leave Fund. This fund, proposed by President Obama, would provide $50 million in competitive grants to help states launch paid leave programs.

While this blog focuses on the need for earned sick time, paid family leave is a different but relevant issue. Earned sick time (also known as paid sick time or paid sick days) refers to a limited number of days that workers can earn in order to use to care for themselves or their families. Paid family leave refers to a longer period of time (measured in weeks or months) in which workers can care for themselves or their families due to serious illness, childbirth, or adoption.

Paid family leave helps stop family poverty before it starts by offering a bridge of economic security when working people must take time off after a new child arrives or to care for their loved ones. With family leave insurance in place, struggling families will have the peace of mind they deserve via the insurance fund when they take the essential time to adjust to a new child or provide care for a seriously ill family member.

Sample script for you to use if you call:
Hi, I'm_________, and I live in ____________. I'm calling to ask Senator _________ to please sign on to a member to member letter currently being circulated by Senator Dodd. This letter asks the Senate Appropriations Committee to support full funding of the State Paid Leave Fund proposed in the President’s budget. Paid family leave is a critical issue to me and my family. Please contact Senator Dodd's office to sign this important letter today. Thank you.

After you call, click here to report about how it went.