Rachna Choudhry

In my job, I get  to explain the entire narrative of paid sick days to our nation’s lawmakers and their staff. It’s a rather simple task because most people intuitively get it—and often they have an experience to share.

The other day, as I walked into one of the House of Representatives office buildings, I chatted briefly with a Capitol police officer, whom I see whenever I am running in for meetings.  After we exchanged hellos, he asked me what issue I was working on.  I told him that I was working to help establish a basic standard of paid sick days so that working people aren’t forced to choose between caring for their health or their children’s health, and losing a paycheck or even their jobs.

He nodded and advised me to tell Members of Congress about a mother he met a few years earlier.  She was there to talk to Members of Congress about her son, who had died from an untreated dental abscess—a death that could have easily been prevented if the boy had access to health care and his mother had time off from work to get him the care he needed.

I’m always so touched when people share their personal stories and insights with me.  And, speaking for the hundreds of other advocates who work on this issue, we carry these stories with us.  They don’t just inform our messaging—they are the message. The reality is that nearly two in five private-sector workers (39 percent) don’t have a single paid sick day to recover from common, short-term illnesses.

In other words, for more than 40 million of us, waking up with a fever and sore throat or needing to throw up will lead to anxiety not only about our health but about our financial security. Should I go to work even though I’m sick because I need a paycheck and cannot afford to lose my job?

Without a basic workplace standard of paid sick days, two in five of us are face a terrible choice: do we respect the public’s health by staying home when sick and lose pay and risk our jobs, ordo we go to work sick so we can pay the bills and keep food on the table but risk spreading a contagious illness to others.  Swift Congressional action to pass the Healthy Families Act, which allows workers to earn up to seven paid sick days a year, would eliminate this forced choice.

This Congress has made progress on the Healthy Families Act.  Both the House and the Senate have held numerous hearings on the issue, and we have more cosponsors on the bill than ever.

But we’re not there yet. Working people want to be responsible employees and family members. They want to be conscientious community members.  The Healthy Families Act would allow workers to be all of the above. The legislation would establish a minimum labor standard that guarantees workers the ability to earn paid, job-protected time off for at least seven days a year to recover from illness or to care for a sick family member. It would ensure that working families don’t risk their financial security to do what is right for their own health and the well-being of their workplaces, schools and communities. And, it would protect the public health by allowing ill people to stay home to recover and avoid spreading illness.

Yet, there is more to be done. As we approach another flu season, as our nation’s children go back to school and as our caregiving responsibilities for older relatives expand, one thing is certain: working people need the economic security and job stability provided by a basic workplace standard of paid sick days, especially as millions continue their paycheck-to-paycheck struggles in this fractured economy.

There isn’t much time left before Congress adjourns.  We need to make sure that Members hear more stories and insights on the need for paid sick days. More than 150 women’s, workers’ and health organizations are working together to support the Healthy Families Act.  We need your help too.  Please visit www.paidsickdays.org to learn more.

Rachna Choudhry

It’s hard to believe, but the sick truth is tens of millions of workers in the good ole U. S. of A. don’t have a single paid sick day.

We’re working hard to change this, and yesterday we co-hosted a standing-room-only briefing on Capitol Hill for congressional staff and advocates about the need for a paid-sick-days standard to promote economic security among working families.

Healthy Families Act Briefing, March 2010

We planned for 40 people and more than 75 showed up!  The big crowd was a clear indication of strong congressional interest in this issue.

Gail Cohen of the Joint Economic Committee presented new research on the Healthy Families Act, legislation that would establish a basic workplace standard of seven paid sick days.  The Joint Economic Committee found that the legislation would give more than 30 million more workers access to paid sick time.

The Healthy Families Act would significantly expand access to this basic protection for millions of our nation’s most vulnerable workers, including low-wage workers, workers of color and women workers.  Nearly half of workers who would gain access to paid sick time if the legislation passes earn less than $10.63/hour, placing them in the lowest wage quartile.  Workers of color comprise nearly one-third of the workers who would be able to accrue paid sick time under the Healthy Families Act, including nearly four million additional African American workers and 5.6 million additional Latino workers.  Nearly half of workers who would gain access to paid sick days—13 million—are women.

Thanks to our partner organization, CLASP, Working Mother Media’s Jennifer Owens spoke at the event, discussing her company’s support for the Healthy Families Act.  An expert on best practices, Owens said that nearly nine in ten employers on Working Mother Magazine’s 100 Best Companies list offer paid sick time to their employees.

Jennifer also noted that Working Mother supports the Healthy Families Act as an employer with its own staff.  “We advocate for it because it fits snugly with our mission to celebrate the companies that support working families, both at work and home.”  She explained that her company hates “presenteeism,” when a staff member comes to work sick, infecting the whole office, school, housekeeping staff or restaurant.

Now more than ever—when families are struggling and jobs are scarce—workers need paid sick days.  The March 2 briefing confirmed what workers and responsible employers already know: when companies respond to the needs of working families, workers are committed and productive, and our communities, workplaces and schools stay healthy.

Rachna Choudhry

As schools reopen and cooler, drier temperatures return here to Washington, D.C., the nation waits for the second wave of the H1N1 flu to hit us.  Meanwhile, we are bombarded by information on the Internet, in the news and through our email inboxes.  Google, too, is in on the action, helping to track and map the H1N1 flu.  And now, there’s even an “iPhone app” for the H1N1 virus!  We know people are engaged when there’s an “app.”  This one will enable users to track, report and be notified of H1N1 outbreaks on the ground, in real time.  It will also allow researchers to collect data on new areas of flu activity. 

Yet, when we look beyond the hype, the actual prevention of the spread of the H1N1 virus is relatively uncomplicated.  Government officials are simply asking workers to stay home when they are sick, and to keep sick children home from school.  Of course, there’s other advice, including coughing into your inner elbows, washing your hands frequently and getting vaccinated.  But perhaps the most effective is to stay home when you’re sick. 

The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) recommends that “people with influenza-like illness remain at home until at least 24 hours after they are free of fever…without the use of fever-reducing medications.”  Schools will need to rely on parents to keep children at home if they are feverish.

Staying home to prevent the spread of H1N1 doesn’t require an “iPhone app,” or even access to Google maps.  All a sick worker, or the parent of a sick child, needs is time off from work without the risk of losing their pay or their jobs.  What workers urgently need is a guarantee that if they do the right thing and stay home with the flu, they won’t be docked pay, disciplined by an employer or fired. 

A basic workplace standard of paid sick days would provide workers with such a guarantee.  And it would help protect the public’s health by removing a key reason that sick adults go to work, and parents send sick children to school: concern about their financial security. 

This policy establishing a standard of paid sick days has already been proposed by Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the late Sen. Ted Kennedy and Sen. Chris Dodd.  The Healthy Families Act (HR 2460/ S 1152) would guarantee workers seven paid sick days a year to recover from illness like the flu and care for ill family members. 

Now, we need urgent action from our elected leaders in the White House and Congress to make the Healthy Families Act the law of the land.  We’ve heard a lot from officials about how to cough into our elbows, and that’s good.  Now, we want to hear how they will ensure that working families don’t risk their financial security to do what is right for their own health and the health of others in their workplaces, schools and communities.   A real commitment to quickly enact the Healthy Families Act would make this a Labor Day to remember.