Calif. Law Bolsters National Effort To Give Workers Paid Sick Time
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With federal legislation continuing to prove elusive, California in September joined a growing number of states and cities that require employers to provide paid sick time off for their workers.聽
The , the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014, requires large and small employers to provide at least three days paid sick leave annually to employees who work 30 or more days a year. The leave would be available if they or becomes ill. When it takes effect in July, it鈥檚 expected to affect 6.5 million workers.
Other include Connecticut as well as San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Seattle, New York City, Portland, Ore., and Newark, N.J., according to the National Partnership for Women and Families.
In addition, voters in Massachusetts, Montclair and Trenton, N.J., and Oakland, Calif., will consider ballot measures this fall requiring paid sick leave, says Vicki Shabo, a vice president at the National Partnership.
鈥淲e鈥檙e the only economically developed country in the world that doesn鈥檛 have paid sick days,鈥 she says.
Nearly 4 in 10 private sector workers lack paid sick leave, and low-wage workers make up a disproportionate share. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics鈥 2014 , only 30 percent of the workers whose earnings are in the bottom quarter nationally had access to paid sick time compared with 84 percent of workers in the highest quartile.
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The problem hits women especially hard. Women make up and are more likely to be the family caregivers, says Liz Watson, senior counsel at the National Women鈥檚 Law Center and director of its Workplace Justice for Women.
鈥淭heir ability to take paid sick leave or paid medical leave is crucial to being able to hold onto their jobs,鈥 Watson says.
Federal legislation that would require paid sick leave has been introduced several times but never passed. The , introduced by Rep. Rosa Delauro, D-Conn., in 2013, would allow workers at companies with at least 15 employees to accrue up to seven days paid sick leave annually.
Noting that it took many attempts to pass the , which allows workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for their own or a family member鈥檚 medical needs, Watson says, 鈥淚 think we will see this legislation pass, it鈥檚 just a matter of time.”
