Paid Sick Days Access and Usage Rates Vary by Race/Ethnicity, Occupation, and Earnings

From our friends at IWPR:

Analysis by the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) finds that four in ten workers in the United States lack access to paid sick days, and among those who do have access, only 55 percent of workers actually used any sick days in the previous year. Inequality in access to paid sick days exists within and across occupations, with supervisors more likely to have paid sick days than non-supervisors. Hispanic, low-wage, and food service and personal care workers are least likely to have access to this important benefit.

Read the report at http://iwpr.org/publications/pubs/paid-sick-days-access-and-usage-rates-vary-by-race-ethnicity-occupation-and-earnings.

Earned Paid Sick Days in Philadelphia Would Benefit Business, Reduce Health Care Costs

The report is available on IWPR's website. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 1, 2013

Washington, DC—Providing paid sick days is expected to save Philadelphia employers more than half a million per year, according to a new analysis by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR). The city’s proposed paid sick days legislation under Chapter 9-3300, would not only reduce costs to employers in Philadelphia, but would also reduce the spread of contagious diseases yielding further public health costs savings.

Of the over 543,000 private sector workers in Philadelphia, about 123,900 currently have no paid leave benefits of any kind and are eligible to receive new leave under the proposed new legislation.

“Providing paid sick days makes sense for businesses and it’s time to do the right thing to protect workers, reduce the spread of contagious illness, and improve public health,” said Barbara Gault, Vice President and Executive Director of IWPR.

Additional research has found that having paid sick days reduces the rate employees voluntarily leave jobs by three to six percentage points. Workers value paid sick days and are more likely to return to a job that provides them following a health care crisis.

Paid sick days can also reduce both business and public health costs by cutting down on the spread of disease at work, helping employers avoid paying for low productivity, holding down nursing-home stays, reducing norovirus outbreaks in nursing homes, and preventing unnecessary hospital emergency department visits.

IWPR’s analysis has found that workers typically take fewer paid sick days than they earn. When workers receive a maximum of seven days off work for paid sick days, they miss an average of 1.6 days annually for illness and injury, excluding maternity leave. When they receive four days, workers with paid sick days miss an average of 1.2 days.

About half of all workers who are covered by paid sick days plans do not take any days off for illness or injury in a given year.

“This report confirms that earned sick days is smart economically because it saves businesses money, keeps workers in their jobs, and protects protect public health,” said Marianne Bellesorte, Senior Director of Public Policy and Media Relations at PathWays PA. “Earned sick days is a modest policy that will have a big impact and Philadelphia, and our city’s economy will be healthier for it.”

When workers can take needed time off without fear of being fired, they and their families can obtain necessary health care more promptly, leading to improved health outcomes, speedier recoveries, and reduced total health care spending.

The report is available on IWPR's website. 

About the Institute for Women's Policy Research
IWPR conducts rigorous research and disseminates its findings to address the needs of women and their families, promote public dialogue, and strengthen communities and societies. IWPR is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization that also works in affiliation with the women's studies and public policy programs at The George Washington University.

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.

The Mayor's Statement on Sick Days

On Tuesday, Mayor Nutter released a statement giving his reasons for vetoing Bill 080474, Promoting Healthy Families and Workplaces, which would have allowed all Philadelphians to earn sick days in their jobs.  However, the Mayor's statement does not take all of the recent research and information into account.

• The Mayor states that "the imposition of this requirement on Philadelphia alone -and not on a statewide or national basis - would simply create too great a burden on our local businesses, would render us uncompetitive in the global marketplace and would cost Philadelphians jobs."
• Since 2007, when San Francisco’s law took effect, job growth has been consistently higher in the city than in neighboring counties that lack a paid sick days law. Total employment in San Francisco increased 3.5 percent between 2006 and 2010, while employment in its five neighboring counties fell by 3.4 percent overall.
• The Philadelphia smoking ban, which was supported by then-Councilman Nutter, is one of many bills that faced the same criticisms of needing to be done at a state or federal level to avoid burdening businesses.  Yet when the smoking ban passed, it paved the way for a similar bill at the state level, similar to what passage of paid sick days at the local level can do for the state.
• Since most other countries offer paid sick days (at least 145), offering the opportunity to earn paid sick days in Philadelphia could not make us uncompetitive in the global marketplace.
• The Mayor also states that "Mandating employers to provide sick leave benefits to employees raises the cost of labor for businesses that do not already provide such benefits.  Moreover, the bill imposes considerable administrative burdens on businesses, particularly small businesses that do not have sophisticated time-keeping systems in place."
• Data from San Francisco shows that 6 out of 7 businesses reported no negative effects on profitability as a result of passing a more comprehensive sick days bill than that passed in Philadelphia. 
• Even without sophisticated time systems, all businesses must be able to report wages and hours in addition to calculating federal, state, and local taxes, not to mention payroll taxes.  Under the bill, workers would earn 1 hour of sick time for every 40 hours worked, which comes out to 0.025 hours of sick time earned per hour work.  This would not be a difficult formula to add to an employer's financial management system, spreadsheet, and/or list of calculations.
• In his statement, the Mayor cites an analysis from Dr. William Dunkelberg, which concludes that paid sick days "would cost businesses in Philadelphia hundreds of millions of dollars annually."
• Lonnie Golden and Stephen Herzenberg released a report in May 2012 showing many errors in the Dunkelberg study, including a doublecounting error, implausible assumptions, and questionable methodology.
• The Mayor also states that the bill "fails to exempt businesses that already provide the mandated number of paid sick days from complying with other aspects of the bill."
• The bill clearly states that businesses who provide an equal or greater amount of sick time, vacation time, personal time, PTO, etc., do not have to change their policies so long as people can take the time when needed (i.e. without advance notice).
• However, the bill does state that employers cannot retaliate against workers for taking sick days (although they reserve the right to take action if an employee is misusing their time).  The exemption the Mayor is looking for, also known as the "Wal-Mart exemption," would allow businesses to offer sick days but to penalize employees for using it.  An estimated 128,000 workers in Philadelphia already face such retaliation even though they have sick days - one of the aims of this bill is to protect workers from such retaliation.

Why Earned Sick Days Matter For Working Women and Families

Contact:
Lauren Townsend 215-939-7621 (c)
Philadelphia Earned Sick Days Campaign

WHY EARNED SICK DAYS MATTER FOR WORKING WOMEN AND FAMILIES

Ellen Bravo: “ Women will never see equal pay until they stop being punished for being caregivers ”

This morning, national and Philadelphia experts on working women briefed members of the news media about why having paid sick days is especially important for working women.

Ellen Bravo, Professor of Women’s Studies at the University of Wisconsin and Executive Director of Family Values @ Work participated in the briefing.

Bravo said, “Women will never see equal pay until they stop being punished for being caregivers. That means policies such as paid sick days, that help women stay employed and have steady earnings.”

Bravo stressed that working mothers often jeopardize their economic wellbeing when they take time off to care for a sick child or elderly parent and do not have paid sick days.

The conference call was moderated by Carol Goertzel, CEO of PathWays PA, who is a founding member of Coalition for Healthy Families and Workplaces that is pressing for the passage of an Earned Sick Days bill in Philadelphia City Council.

Katherine Black, Director of Health and Safety at the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees District Council 47 and President of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Coalition of Labor Union Women, said, “The fact that women's wages continue to lag behind men's by 23% - and much more for women of color - is just one factor to consider when quantifying women's second class status in the workplace. More than half of all women work in the retail, clerical and service sectors, where they are much less likely to be provided with health care, pensions or paid leave benefits. That means most women's expenses are higher than men's, and their income insecurity and disadvantage extends past their working life all through their retirement years. Having a modest cushion of paid sick days would provide working women with a few more threads in a very frayed employment security safety net.”

"As many as 100,000 working women in Philadelphia don't have access to a single paid sick day at work, " said Amy Traub, Director of Research at The Drum Major Institute for Public Policy. " Because women are more likely to be caregivers for sick children, they bear a disproportionate burden from the failure to guarantee paid sick leave to all workers. Our research shows that guaranteeing paid sick leave doesn't harm business growth or job growth -- but the lack of paid leave hits women and their families hard."

Caryn Hunt, President of the Philadelphia Chapter of the National Organization for Women, said, “The wage gap between men and women workers has not narrowed in over 15 years, and that includes throughout the economic boom years. That it takes women 3 months into the new year to equal the pay of men the previous year is outrageous, not just for women, but for their families that increasingly rely on that income. It's simply unfair. In Philadelphia, Earned Sick Time helps the city take a step closer to worker equity as it would primarily effect workers in healthcare and the food service industry which are predominantly women. It has the added virtue of protecting the public health by giving workers the choice to stay home when they or a loved one is sick.”

Background:

Having no sick days is a double-whammy when women still receive 20 - 30 cents less for every dollar a man makes. Missing even one day - particularly for working mothers - can undermine a woman's financial stability.

When care giving responsibilities and jobs collide, women often bear the brunt of the problem:

• Half of all working mothers miss work when their child is sick, compared to 30% of working fathers. Of the mothers that miss work, 50% report losing pay when doing so.
• Even when women have access to sick days, studies show that mothers are the only demographic group more likely to use sick time to care for someone else than for themselves.  
• Since women are more likely to bear the burden of care giving AND work in low-wage jobs without sick days, they are also more likely to lose their jobs because of a lack of sick days. This job loss prevents longer job tenure and higher wages, and increases the likelihood of a family growing up in poverty.

Promoting Healthy Families and Workplaces Act (Bill 080474) is a bill that would allow Philadelphia workers the opportunity to earn up to nine days of sick time per year. It was voted out of the Public Health and Human Services Committee on March 1, 2011. The bill could affect up to 200,000 workers in Philadelphia who do not have access to paid sick days.

With over 40 percent of Philadelphians lacking earned sick days, a large portion of the population cannot take the time off work to go see a doctor or obtain medical treatment - regardless of the medical coverage they have.

Employees with earned sick days are more likely to stay home when they are sick, limiting the spread of the illness and protecting co-workers, customers, or anyone else they meet during the workday. During the height of the H1N1 pandemic, people were urged to stay home if they had any signs of the flu, however, those without earned sick days were less likely to stay home because they could not afford to. As a result, nearly 8 million H1N1 cases were traced back to employees going to work while sick.

New IWPR Report: San Francisco Paid Sick Days Legislation Benefits Employers and Employees

Recent surveys conducted for the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) find that both businesses and employees in San Francisco were generally in support of the nation’s first paid sick days legislation. According to a new report from IWPR, more than half of covered employees report some benefit due to the law, and one out of four workers reported that they were better able to care for their own and their families'  health. The report provides results from recent surveys of 727 employers and 1,194 employees working in San Francisco regarding the effects of the Paid Sick Leave Ordinance (PSLO).

Below is an excerpt from the report on some of its key findings.

For workers, survey results find:

• Despite the availability of either five or nine sick days under the PSLO, the typical worker with access used only three paid sick days during the previous year, and one-quarter of employees with access used zero paid sick days.
• More than half of San Francisco employees with access reported benefitting from the PSLO either because their employer became more supportive of usage, the number of sick days provided increased, or they were better able to care for themselves or family members.
• Parents with paid sick days were more than 20 percent less likely to send a child with a contagious disease to school than parents who did not have paid sick days.

For employers, survey results show:

• Employer profitability did not suffer. Six out of seven employers did not report any negative effect on profitability as a result of the PSLO.
• Most employers reported no difficulty providing sick days to their employees under the ordinance.
• Employers are supportive. Two-thirds of employers support the PSLO and one-third are “very supportive.”

To view the entire report please click here.

PCN Video on Need for Earned Sick Time

A new video on the need for earned sick time is now available.  PCN's monthly television program "Agenda for Action" included a story on HB 1830 and an interview from Tiffany Lomax about her need for earned sick time.  You can watch it on YouTube or view it below.

Thanks to Everyone Who Attended Today's Coffee Hour!

The Coalition for Healthy Families and Workplaces held a terrific coffee hour this morning with information on earned sick time along with stories, a video, and, of course, coffee! Thank you to everyone who attended.  For those of you who heard about the coalition for the first time today and are interested in learning more, here are some links you might enjoy:

Now Is The Right Time For Paid Sick Days
Fact Sheets
Studies and Reports
Stories
Legislation in Other Cities
Take Action on Earned Sick Time
Coalition Sign-On Form

Another Gender Gap: Paid Sick Days

Earlier this week, a new survey conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago and commissioned by the Public Welfare Foundation was released. The survey demonstrates that the lack of access to paid sick days not only has significant negative consequences for public health, health care costs, and families’ financial security, but also that women disproportionately lack it as a benefit.

While 71 percent of men surveyed had paid sick days, only 57 percent of women reported having the same benefit. In recent months we have seen that, for the first time, women make up half of the workforce. Now, however, we see that just as there is a gender gap in wages, there appears to be one in sick time as well. The fields where a majority of the workers are women are unfortunately less likely to offer such benefits as paid sick days, while women are still more likely to be the primary care giver for a child or relative. Below are some statistics from the National Partnership for Women and Families that highlight this disparity:

• Low-wage workers—the majority of whom are women—are less likely to have paid sick days. Two-thirds of low-income workers making $10.63 per hour or less don’t have access to paid sick time.
• The industries that are often women-dominated are among the least likely to offer paid sick days. For example, nearly three-quarters of child care workers (72 percent) and food service workers (73 percent) lack access to paid sick time.
• One in three working women report that they provide care for an elderly relative, for persons with disabilities or for special needs children.
• Four in five mothers (80 percent) are primarily responsible for selecting their children’s doctors and accompanying children to appointments.
• Half of working mothers miss work when their child gets sick. And of these mothers, half do not get paid when they take this time off. Among low-income working mothers, two in three report losing pay.

All workers, but especially working women, need a basic workplace standard of paid sick days to ensure that no one has to choose between supporting their families financially and caring for a sick child, an ailing family member or themselves.

2.2 Million Pennsylvanians Lack Access to Earned Sick Time

Almost half of the Pennsylvanians that lack any earned sick time fall into three categories: 

Accommodations and Food Service Workers: In Pennsylvania, there are approximately 325,280 workers in this industry without earned sick time. Of the 18 million norovirus (aka stomach flu) infections nationally, ½ come from ill food service workers.

Health Care and Social Assistance Workers: In Pennsylvania, there are approximately 249,657 workers in this industry without earned sick time. This number includes people who work with our most vulnerable populations in nursing facilities, child and youth services, and child day care centers, among other occupations.

Retail Trade Workers: In Pennsylvania, there are approximately 356,576 workers in this   industry without earned sick time. This number includes people who work in grocery stores, warehouse clubs, and clothing stores, among other occupations.

People employed in these three industries generally have constant contact with the public including vulnerable populations and serving people food and drinks. Having earned sick time is not just about fairness in the workplaces and giving people flexibility to care for themselves and their family, it also is a public health issue. When workers have earned sick time, they are able to make decisions to care for their own health and their family’s health in a way that positively affects our public health.