KQED (HEALTHY IDEAS BLOG), MAY 11, 2009
By Ellen Wu, MPH
Across the country, public health officials are mobilizing to prevent the further spread of the H1N1 flu epidemic. As a fundamental part of their response, they are instructing people who get sick to stay home from work or school to keep from infecting others.
For almost 6 million California workers, this is easier said than done. These workers, who do not earn any paid sick days, are asked to make an incredibly difficult choice – between following medical advice or losing pay, between keeping a job and potentially infecting others.
The right to paid sick days is more than an employment benefit – it is, fundamentally, a health equity issue. Workers in low-wage jobs are the least likely to have paid sick days – in California 70% of workers in the accommodation and food service industries do not have the right to accrue paid sick days, and the majority of California’s Latino workers (56%) do not have paid sick days, compared to 38% of White workers.
Whether we are trying to prevent the H1N1 flu, seasonal influenza, or food borne disease outbreaks in restaurants, guaranteeing the right of all workers to earn and use paid sick days is a commonsense public health strategy – for individual workers, their families, and for all Americans.
The United States remains alone among developed and prosperous Western nations in not guaranteeing this basic right for its workers. If we are serious about improving the health of all Americans we must look past our traditional silos and incorporate health in all policies. Paid sick days for all is a good place to start.
