U.S. among few countries that don't require paid sick days

[J.K. Gregg]

[OGPhilly]

[OGPhilly]

[exploited]

[J.K. Gregg]

Yeah, let's violate peoples' rights in the name of existential threats. That won't be a slippery slope at all.

[Winchester]

[exploited]

As you know, all the rest of the Western nations are totalitarian states in which rights are disregarded, and it all started with sick days.

[OGPhilly]

[Winchester]

[exploited]

From Wikipedia:

Some research has shown that children whose parents have access to paid sick leave are more likely to take time away from work to care for their sick kids,[8] and other research finds that most children recover faster from illness when cared for by their parents.[9] However, 53 percent of working mothers and 48 percent of working fathers don’t have paid sick days to care for children.[10] Without paid time off, workers may be forced to send sick children to school where they spread illness and experience negative short- and long-term health outcomes.[11] The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) asks workers to stay at home if they are sick and to keep sick kids out of school.[12] During the 2009 H1N1 crisis, the CDC recommended that anyone with flu-like symptoms remain at home.[13] According to a report from the Institute for Women's Policy Research, more than 8 million workers went to their jobs while sick between September and November 2009 during the H1N1 pandemic.[14]

Nearly seven in ten workers (68 percent) report they have gone to work with the stomach flu or other contagious disease.[6] Nearly half reported that they went to work sick because they could not afford to lose the pay.[15] Thirty percent of workers report they contracted the flu from a colleague.[16]

In addition to their colleagues, workers who choose to go to work sick may risk passing the illness to customers. The Food and Drug Administration guidelines recommend that workers with norovirus-related illnesses work on a restricted basis until 24 hours after symptoms subside.[17] Nearly half of outbreaks caused by the stomach flu are linked to ill food-service workers.[18] In 2008, health officials said a sick employee at a Chipotle restaurant in Kent, Ohio might have caused an outbreak resulting in over 500 people becoming violently ill.[19] The outbreak cost the Kent community between $130,233 and $305,337 in lost wages, lost productivity, and health care costs.[20]

Paid sick leave can also reduce the risk of occupational injuries, especially in high-risk industries such as construction, manufacturing, agriculture and health care. One study found that workers with access to paid sick leave were 28% less likely than those without to experience workplace injuries.[21]



Not only does paid sick days benefit the public and the employee, it also benefits the employer, who is on the line for work place injuries and health care costs.