By Joshanne Chiang
The state of paid sick leave in the United States is incredibly disappointing for such a wealthy country. As a quick definition, paid sick leave simply means being paid to stay home to nurse an illness, whether it’s your own or that of a family member. The US Department of Labor writes that there are currently no federal legal requirements for paid sick leave. Rather, there are only requirements for unpaid sick leave.
Without federally mandated paid sick leave, whether or not people get paid sick leave depends on what state they live in. This has obviously led to gaps in the system. The Bureau of Labor Statistics found in 2019 that 24 percent of workers, or more than 30 million people, do not receive paid sick leave. The Economic Policy Institute in 2020 that only 13 states plus the District of Columbia guarantee workers paid sick days. Twenty-three states have gone in the opposite direction, passing laws preventing local governments from requiring that employers offer paid sick leave.
The lack of sick leave is terrible at any time, but this is especially true now. As everyone has undoubtedly heard by now, we are in the midst of a devastating pandemic. People can not afford to stay home from work, even if they are sick. The Economic Policy Institute found that if a worker needs to take off even a half-day due to illness, the lost wages are equivalent to the household’s monthly spending for fruits and vegetables. Essentially forcing sick people to work has two major implications.
First, essential workers are left unnecessarily vulnerable. Brookings wrote in 2020 that essential industries employ between 49 million and 62 million people. This is especially bad for workers with underlying health conditions. Stat News reported in 2020 that about 60 percent of U.S. adults have at least one co-morbidity that gives them a 79 percent greater chance of requiring intensive care or dying from COVID-19. Yes, we will always need essential workers, but people with co-morbidities should not be the ones having to choose between a paycheck and saving their lives.
Second, by not requiring paid sick leave, the US could be extending the magnitude and length of the pandemic. MarketWatch reported in 2020 that during the H1N1 outbreak in 2009, people infected with the H1N1 virus who showed up to work had caused up to 7 million infections and may have extended the duration of the outbreak. Forbes reported in 2020 that in states with mandated sick pay, influenza-like illnesses dropped by up to 40 percent during an outbreak. This is especially true because Stone writes that low-wage, such as the service industry workers interacting with people on a daily basis, are even less likely to have access to paid sick leave than other workers.
The biggest argument against federally mandating paid sick leave is its potential impact on businesses, especially small businesses. This is a very valid concern, especially given how much businesses are suffering from dwindling customers due to shelter-in-place orders. However, MarketWatch reported that paid sick leave actually benefits employers, who save $1billion to $2 billion in recused absenteeism costs.
The federal government has been working to patch up sick leave, but it is too little too late. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act mandates two weeks of paid sick leave at the employee’s regular rate of pay if they are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and two weeks of paid sick leave at two-thirds the employee’s regular rate for those that need to care for children. Unfortunately, these rules only apply to private employers with between 50 and 500 employees as well as certain public employees. Additionally, these rules seem designed to be temporary forCOVID-19, which is great for now, but eventually, the US will need a more permanent paid sick leave program, especially as the World Health Organization warns that the coronavirus may never go away.
We should be offering paid sick leave out of basic human decency. No one should have to decide between receiving a paycheck or recovering from an illness. At a time when people are becoming more aware of the sacrifices that essential workers have to make for the entire community’s well-being, let that compassion extend to policy in the form of paid sick leave.
