 Millions of Americans Have Zero Sick Days - 08/27/2010
Millions of American workers have no paid sick days. A survey by the Public Welfare Foundation shows that it’s hurting both workers and our public health. Doug Cunningham reports.
By Doug Cunningham
More than forty million American workers have no paid sick days. The Public Welfare Foundation is out with a new survey on paid sick days in the U.S. that finds nearly one in six workers polled say they’ve lost a job for taking sick time off work or to care for a sick relative. Deborah Leff is President of the Public Welfare Foundation.
[Leff]: “People who don’t have paid sick days are very vulnerable. They go to work sick because they don’t have any choice. Either they will lose their jobs or they will lose their wages, so they show up sick.”
This paid sick days survey done by the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center finds that the lack of paid sick days for millions of workers is harming our public health and straining the nation’s health care system. Leff says there’s overwhelming public support for paid sick days for workers.
[Leff 2]: “What this survey shows is that a majority of people in every racial group and every income level, every age group, every part of the country, both political parties see paid sick days as a basic worker right.”
National legislation guaranteeing paid sick days for workers is before Congress. Just two cities – San Francisco and Washington, D.C. – have local paid sick day laws.
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