Paid sick days
"Achoo!"
"Bless you."
"Achoo!"
"Gezundheit!"
"Achoo!"
"Damn it, you better not be getting sick."
Tomorrow evening, I’m attending a fundraiser in support of the Ohio Healthy Families Act, which would guarantee full-time workers 7 paid sick days a year (with part-timers eligible on a pro-rata basis). The ability to take a paid sick day is something that professionals take for granted, but only about half of American workers have any paid sick days, and many of those that do, can only use them if they’re personally sick, not to care for a sick family member.
Paid sick days are good for workers, good for families, and good for public health. Trust me, you don’t want restaurant workers coming to work sick, and you don’t want other families sending their kids to school sick because they can’t afford to keep them home.
I support federal legislation for paid sick days, but I also think it’s great that folks in Ohio are using the ballot initiative process to try to move the idea. For one thing, it might well get passed before anything happens at the federal level. For another, it helps mobilize low-income workers to vote in November.
July 15th, 2008 at 11:53 am
When I was waiting tables, I worked through bronchitis and strep throat, both in the span of a few weeks– I had to make myself a little sign with greetings and introduction, becuase I lost my voice by the second day! But I couldn’t get all my shifts covered, we needed the money, and my boss refused to send me home. It was either work or get fired, and I chose to work. Paid sick days is such a long-overdue idea.
July 15th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Paid sick days are critical, not just for working parents, but for everyone. Good for you!