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Everyone needs paid sick days. If there is one thing we all have in common, it’s that we’ll eventually get sick. It might be a bad cold. Or a stomach bug, the flu, COVID, pink eye, a bad toothache, or something even more serious. But there will be a day, sooner rather than later, that you will not be able to go to work, and if you do, you might pass whatever ailment you have to someone else. This realization obviously extends to our loved ones; as any parent knows, children have a bad habit of getting sick and needing to stay home at inconvenient times.
For those of us with an employer who offers paid sick days, most of these ailments would be the source of some discomfort but not a whole lot of worry. We can take a day or two off, take care of ourselves or our kids (and then of ourselves when we catch whatever bug our kids had), and go back to work once fully recovered. A couple of days of rest is more often than not enough to get back on track, avoiding getting anyone else sick in the process.
The sticking point, however, is that not everyone has paid sick days in their workplace. Far from it, just 12% of Connecticut workers have them under law. Although quite a few companies and employers provide paid time off as a matter of company policy, about 40% of Connecticut workers do not have access to this benefit. As a result, when they get sick, they face the choice between earning a paycheck or taking care of their own health or of a loved one.
Losing a few days of pay might not be a huge issue for some, but research also shows that low-wage workers are the least likely to have access to paid sick days. In this case, staying home with the flu or a sick family member might mean missing enough income to fall short on a utility bill, a rent payment, or get hit with a late fee. For someone living paycheck to paycheck, the choice between health and making ends meet is costlier and much more real.
There are large discrepancies across race and ethnicity too. Black and Hispanic workers are much more likely to hold part-time jobs, to work for small businesses, to hold lower-paying jobs. Predictably, while 64% of White workers nationwide have paid sick days as an employee benefit, the percentage falls to 59% for Black employees and 45% for Hispanic.
Which brings us again to the one thing we all have in common, getting sick, and how we’ll all need to take a day off at some point. Paid sick days should include everyone because the problem they are trying to address impacts everybody. Connecticut lawmakers are debating whether to pass legislation to expand access to paid sick days beyond the 12% of workers covered under current law. It would make very little sense to pass a bill that carves out those in the workforce that need it the most, and that face the biggest challenges from being excluded: part-time workers in low-paying jobs in small businesses, living paycheck to paycheck, often Hispanic or Black women.
Making paid sick days anything other than universal will mean leaving out precisely those groups that not only are the least likely to have them now but that they need them the most. It is something that has literal life-or-death consequences. For instance, Black and Hispanic workers were much more likely to contract COVID during the pandemic and had higher death rates during the pandemic, in no small part because they were more likely both to be front-line workers and lack paid sick days coverage. Workers without paid sick time are more likely to struggle paying bills and dealing with chronic conditions, and suffer much higher levels of stress. Any piece of legislation that cuts out those workers will end up guaranteeing benefits to many workers that already have them while denying it to those that really need them.
A healthier, more financially secure labor force also supports small businesses. I wrote extensively a few weeks ago on the extensive evidence and research that makes clear that paid sick days legislation increases worker productivity, reduces presenteeism (showing up to work, but not being able to do much due to being sick), improves employee morale and retention, and actually leads to higher employment levels across the board. On average, newly covered workers only take two paid sick days a year, but the added cost is more than offset by all these benefits. Businesses are often reluctant to embrace new worker protections because they only see the upfront costs, but not the positive changes they generate. As we saw with paid family leave and similar legislation, once the bill passes they quickly adapt and embrace these benefits, and business owners understand healthier workers help their bottom line too.
Paid sick days legislation is good for the economy, good for workers, and it directly addresses racial disparities in the workplace. Let’s be clear: we need universal paid sick days, and this means covering everyone, with no exceptions.