U.S. Sick Leave Policy Makes Nation More Vulnerable To Swine Flu

The United States lags behind developed nations in mandating paid sick leave for workers, a deficiency that makes the nation more vulnerable to contagious illnesses like swine flu, according to a study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research released Monday.

"We looked at 22 affluent countries -- the 22 that are the top 22 ranked in terms of the human development index -- except for the United States, every single other one has some form of paid sick days or paid sick leave and the majority have both," said the report's lead author, Jody Heymann of McGill University's Institute for Health and Social Policy, in an interview with the Huffington Post.

To bring the U.S. up to speed, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) announced a bill that would allow workers to earn up to seven days of paid sick leave to recover from illness or care for a sick family member.

"Every worker should have paid sick days -- it is a matter of right and wrong. Being a working parent should not mean choosing between your job, taking care of yourself, and taking care of your family," said DeLauro in a statement. Noting that in the wake of the continuing swine flu outbreak many public officials have encouraged folks with symptoms to stay home, DeLauro added: "for many Americans, following this sound advice is impossible. Almost half of all private sector workers, 57 million, do not have a single paid sick day. These workers put their jobs on the line every time they take a day off."

DeLauro said in her statement that "presenteeism" -- when sick workers show up for work instead of staying home -- costs the national economy $180 billion annually in lost productivity, or $225 per employee per year.

The CEPR's report, titled "Contagion Nation: A Comparison of Paid Sick Day Policies in 22 Countries," found that the U.S. was the only one that did not have national or at least provincial policies providing paid sick leave for workers for short stretches of five days or long stretches of 50 days.

Heymann said DeLauro's bill will remedy the nation's ailing sick leave policy. The current setup, she said, is a hazard for everybody.

"You have to worry not only whether you have paid leave but whether the restaurant worker has paid leave," said Heymann, "or whether they went to work with gastroenteritis because they don't have paid leave."

HuffPost readers: Has illness ever put you in a difficult situation at work? Has a family member's illness ever put you in a bind? Share your stories -- email us at [e-mail].

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Comments

[Lindsey Lee]

I own two coffee shops in Madison Wisconsin (Cargo Coffee and Ground Zero Coffee) and I started to offer paid sick leave to my employees in 2006. We had a debate in our city about making them mandatory through a city ordinance. I decide to make it apart of my employment package after I looked at the issue and realized that once you got rid of all of the ideological talking points it just made plain sense. First, the cost is relatively minor. This is especially true compared to ever rising health insurance costs. It works out to be about a 2 to 3 percent one time increase to payroll. Second, it increased productively among my staff. Having an employee come in sick and then having multiple sick employees several days later makes no sense. Finally, being in the restaurant business I am pretty sure my customers and employees appreciate that I am acting prudently in making sure I have a health staff.

Finally, I have to point out that back in the early 1990s some in the business community were predicting dire consequences for small businesses and the over all economy if the Family Leave Act past. Obviously we now know that that law was a sensible one and has actually strengthen our workforce and business culture. I am sure the same would be the case if paid sick leave also became mandatory.

[meko]

Gee whiz, you are rational. I'll bet your staff never spits in the coffee. Next time I'm in Madison, I'm going to Cargo Coffee and Ground Zero Coffee. I always choose the coffee shop with health insurance when I have a choice.

[Gnosisquest]

The only way to cure the sickness in the US is to hold the criminals responsible!

The criminals are all those senators who accept bribes from the business sector; these senators have been elected by the public as their representatives and instead they represent vested interest. This can be readily proven since there are senators supporting HMO's and other groups that only exist to gauge the public.

Take a look at any Senators record; if the Senator supported an HMO he does not support his constituents and should be the subject of a class action lawsuit!

A sick American is of no use to big business therefore he gets no pay when ill.
The HMO's are a disgrace to the medical profession; having your medical care decided by a capitalist watching his stocks is absurd!

[marleysghost]

I teach at a food production company and the production line workers literally work themselves into illness. Even then, they come to work sick with colds etc. And this is food production. But, if they don't work they don't get paid. Double shifts and overtime coupled with busy home life taking care of everyone else, it is a wonder I haven't lost workers in my classes by simply dropping dead from working as they do. And this is a pretty good company, too. it is the worker's fear of not making enough money to support their families that drives this behavior.

Union? No way. This is North Carolina a "Right to Work State" which means managements has the right to fire at will or filmy causes. These companies here fight tooth and nail to discourage collective bargaining, but even then the individual would just come to work rain or shine, dead on their feet , sneezing and hacking away just to not lose a day's pay. We are truly an unhealthy nation. And like I said, we make stuff people eat.

[marleysghost]

Let's face it, we may be rich, but in so many critical areas of public policy we are behind even the countries we give economic aid to. A rich Third World nation. And a sick one too.

[meko]

We aren't all rich. We have a lot of the richest people, and we have a lot of people who think they're going to be rich (though studies demonstrate that Americans have far less social mobility than we think), but we have a lot of poor people.

Voting like a rich man is never going to make you rich. But somehow a lot of people have been convinced otherwise.

[plzchuteme]

That's why it always amazes me when I meet someone of lower middle class who votes Republican against their own self interests. They believe that if they do, they will be rewarded with a "piece of the pie." Sorry, it ain't gonna happen!

[OhgReaTone]

The trend in U. S. Companies has been shifting the burden to the employee for sick leave. More are eliminating paid sick leave altogether, replacing the benefit with PTO (Paid Time Off). ...........

http://thefiresidepost.com/2009/05/03/swine-flu-pandemics-and-paid-sick-leave/

[CraftKitten]

I've never had paid sick leave. At one point while working at a restaurant, I couldn't even get nights off when I was sick unpaid. I frequently went in to work sick, usually with a hacking cough. I was a server then so I would have to stop before getting to tables to hack up a lung. It was ridiculous.

[lightningbolt]

Corporations in the U.S. are very short sighted. They only care about short-term profit. They don't realize that giving workers more sick leave and vacation would make them happier, therefore making them more productive. They might work fewer days, but that extra happiness will make them work harder which will more than make up for the lost days. A happy worker is a good worker and will gladly work well. An unhappy worker will simply do the bare minimum to keep the job.

[plzchuteme]

I worked in hospitals for thirty years, was exposed to infectious diseases on a daily basis, and had intimate contact with the most vulnerable and weakest population. The policy for earning or accruing sick leave was relatively generous. The policy for using it was not. There was a great deal of pressure to not call in sick and sanctions regularly applied to those who did. At one point in time, I had accrued the maximum sick leave and earned no additional for 9 years because my attendance was exemplary. When I used a significant portion to have, and recover from, surgery(doctor's orders) I was flagged on my annual performance evaluation for using excessive sick leave. If a hospital cannot understand the folly of policy like this, who can? The question is: "When is a benefit not a benefit"...for anyone?

[koho1954]

My spouse was recently ill for three days, she rarely is ill. It involved a trip to the er, meds, and the previously mentioned 3 days off. She was given paperwork under the FMLA act to have the doctor fill out, to get the time off. (Thankfully her employer does at least provide the sick leave) Big surprise! The doctor's office now charges $15 to fill out the FMLA forms. FMLA was intended for long periods of time off, up to 12 weeks, and "serious illness" of the employee, not a short term illness like influenza or my wife's specific ailment. Apparently, more and more employers are using this for day to day illness, to the point that medical offices have enough paperwork to feel they need to charge for it.

[tydicea]

And the shame of it is it had to take the outbreak of an epidemic for this come up on law makers' radar.

[seehowtheyrun]

The United States lags behind developed nations in mandating paid sick leave for workers?
The US lags behind developed nations in just about everything except how to exploit workers.

[RandVictims]

You work yourself until you're sick, then you are tossed aside as your medical insurance rejects your claim. THIS is what happens when you don't have strong unions and strong government representation.

Ever wonder why the cancer rates increase exponentially every decade?:

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/stress

Something has to change soon or the Plutocracy will see a violent revolution they never dreamed possible.

[booksnmoreforyou]

B...B...But I thought gay marriage was Priority # One!

[bragladish]

I am shocked that Americans don't have paid sick leave! What is going on in your country? Who is in charge of this insane mess? There's more people in the US who don't have medical insurance, work for 8 dollars and hour and are unemployed, then we have citizens in our country Canada... You're the biggest polluters on the planet and you owe more money then you could ever repay! You are a lawless country who's greed is unprecedented... man, I really feel sorry for you guys because you're screwed! you're government is run by pirates! I had no idea how bad the average citizen in your country has it... it's crazy!

[meko]

But we do really well at preserving the inherited wealth of our upper classes. Can your country claim the same?

Where else could a C student become the top executive official of the country?

[delagirl]

Or a former cocaine addict the leader of the nation....GO USA!

[RandVictims]

This country has gone back to the "Dark Ages" when it comes to labor practices. I keep looking for Andrew Carnegie hiding on the Senate floor as the corporate puppets hand down more slavery of the lower classes.

Of course we're not going to go home if we're sick. Management weighs that against you in reviews (I"ve been told that personally by HR of my company) Some people in the service sector are so scared of losing their jobs they are ****literally**** working themselves to death. (I wonder if Reagan ever looks up from his firey afterlife and ponders the world he left)

Chances are, we'll have a 21st century version of the Triange Shirtwaist Fire here in America before the summer's out.

Where is Che when we need him.

[marxmarv]

If the R party implodes, it's not impossible that a party left of the D party might fill the vacuum. Che is probably out there.