WORKERS INDEPENDENT NEWS, APRIL 23, 2009
By Doug Cunningham
Half of all U.S. workers have no paid sick days. In California, unions are supporting a mandatory paid sick day law. Jeremy Smith is legislative advocate for the California Labor Federation.
[Smith]: “There are workers that wake up every day when they’re sick and have to ask themselves, ‘Do I go to work sick or do I stay home and lose my job? Or do I stay home and lose a day’s pay?’ And often times they decide to go to work sick, because they can’t afford to lose their jobs, especially in this economy. And they can’t afford to lose a day’s pay.”
The California mandatory paid sick day bill got a hearing in the state Assembly Wednesday. It faces strong business opposition. Smith says passing this mandatory paid sick day law does have a pricetag, but he says there are costs to forcing workers to go without paid sick days, too.
[Smith]: "We believe that there are costs associated with not having paid sick days. Costs to employers when they don't give their workers paid sick days or the ability to take time off when they're sick. Workers come to work sick and they infect coworkers. They unfortunately are not at a hundred percent so they can't do their work at a hundred percent."
