News and Commentary

Paid sick leave referendum wins big

11.04.2008 | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | City of Milwaukee residents overwhelmingly approved a binding referendum Tuesday that calls for private employers in the city to provide paid sick leave for all their workers, a measure strongly opposed by business leaders and Mayor Tom Barrett. The final vote tally showed 69% voted for the referendum with 31% against. | Read

No Paid Sick Days 'Scary' for Minnesotans

10.31.2008 | Fox News | Minnesota DFL lawmakers will join members of the Paid Sick Days Coalition at the corner of Snelling and University on Friday to push for a bill requiring paid sick days for full-time workers. The Minnesota bill (SF 1324/HF 1334) would provide all workers with paid sick days to be used to recover from their own illness, to care for a sick family member, or for absence related to domestic violence. | Read

Paid Sick Days Health Impact Assessment

10.30.2008 | Human Impact Partners | The health of all Americans would significantly benefit if workers earned paid sick days and used them when ill or when a family member needs care. However, about 50% of the U.S. workforce do not have the right to take paid time off from work when they are sick. | Read

Should employers be required to pay workers when they're sick?

08.21.2008 | Seattle PI | That's what lawmakers in 12 states have proposed over the last year. For an estimated 46 million workers around the country, being sick still means losing money. | Read

States push laws requiring paid sick days

08.20.2008 | Seattle PI | For school bus driver Jamille Aine, a cold is more than an inconvenience. His employer does not offer paid sick days, so if he can't shake the bug, he may not be able to pay his bills. | Read

Who Really Pays for Paid Sick Leave?

07.28.2008 | U.S. News | Anxiety over the financial repercussions of taking a sick day had 50 percent of Ohioans heading to work when they should have stayed home in this past year, according to a new survey. | Read

Cuts in paid sick days leave unhealthy employees stuck in the workplace

07.07.2008 | L.A. Times | U.S. employees are making do with fewer days or none at all as companies reduce the benefit. Lawmakers are stepping in. | Read

Council Approves Sick Leave In District

03.05.2008 | Washington Post | The Washington D.C. Council voted unanimously to make Washington, D.C. the second city in the country to require employers to grant their workers paid sick leave. Under the Accrued Sick and Safe Leave Act, full-time employees at businesses with 100 or more workers will get seven days of paid leave, and employees at businesses with 24 or fewer workers will get three days. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty must sign the bill, and Congress has 90 days to review it before it takes effect. | Read

Paid sick leave makes sense for all workers in our state

01.25.2006 | Tacoma News Tribune | Our employers understand that a parent needs to be home with a sick child and that a sick worker is better at home, recovering, rather than at work, feeling lousy and getting other workers sick. It is a common-sense idea that should not be at the whimsy of each individual employer, but simply agreed to as the law. That’s what some of our state Reps had in mind last week. They introduced an important public health measure – minimum paid sick days. | Read

Oregon's leave law is no cure-all

Legislation helps parents stay home when a kid is sick, but many still feel pressed to work

01.22.2008 | The Oregonian | Under the Oregon Family Leave Act, working parents who are eligible may stay home - unpaid - with a child who does not have a serious illness or injury without jeopardizing their job. Still, 13 years after the act's authors tried to address the common illnesses of childhood, the pressures on parents remain high. | Read | PDF

Get Well Soon: Without paid leave, four in 10 workers don’t have any other choice

02.14.2007 | Real Change News | Last fall I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I’m lucky that this potentially fatal disease was caught early, and my prospects are good. But to get to that good outcome requires nine grueling months of treatment. I figure by next summer I’ll have missed 320 hours of work, the equivalent of eight weeks, for surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and doctor’s visits. For 112 of those hours, the equivalent of 14 work days, I’ll need someone with me. I’m particularly lucky to have health insurance, paid leave, and supportive family and friends who also have paid leave. Not everyone is so fortunate. | Read