Should Paid Sick Days Be Required by Law?
Millions of Americans have to go to work when they fall ill, a phenomenon known as presenteeism. But mandatory paid sick leave is healthier for us all
Connecticut just became the first state in the nation to require employers to provide workers with paid sick days. The new law — which also allows paid leave for a sick child or spouse — is controversial. Opponents attack it as big government run amok and say it will kill jobs. But it is the right thing to do, both as a matter of humane treatment of workers and public health. And while the law doesn’t cover everyone, it’s a step in the right direction and other states should follow Connecticut’s lead. Millions of Americans work at jobs that do not offer them a paid day off when they get sick. In the private sector, nearly 40% of workers do not have paid sick leave. Not surprisingly, low-income workers are worst off. Among the bottom 25% of wage earners — those making $10.50 or less an hour — just 33% can take a paid day off when they are ailing. What means that millions of Americans often have to go to work sick or in pain — a phenomenon known as presenteeism — or they may not be able to help family members who face medical emergencies. If they have no choice but to miss work, they risk being fired.
Advocates for paid sick leave point to the case of Hilda Pizarro. Pizzaro says she was suspended from her job cleaning houses for Merry Maids — which does not offer paid sick days — because she had to take her 2-year-old son to the hospital for emergency asthma treatment. While she was on suspension, she says, she was terminated.
Supporters of paid sick leave also argue that everyone benefits when sick people do not show up for work. Requiring paid sick leave “is good public policy and specifically good public health,” Governor Dan Malloy said when he signed Connecticut’s law last July. “Why would you want to eat food from a sick restaurant cook? Or have your children taken care of by a sick day-care worker? The simple answer is — you wouldn’t.”
Opponents of the bill, on the other hand, argue that it is big government regulation and insist it will kill jobs. They also worry about where the law will go next. Critics ask what the state will mandate next: paid vacations and coffee breaks?
Been here and done this, after all, the companies that I have worked for, had not only limited days were you could call off, but the days that you called off were days without pay. When a person is working paycheck to paycheck, they go in sick, because any deduction in wage, they can not afford. Unfortunately, that spreads usually the cold to other coworkers, who also are working paycheck to paycheck, which means they must also continue working with a cold, which usually mutates and then the first person who had the cold, catches this new cold, and so on and so on. . . . . .
This article begs a good question, between the Merry Maids Cleaning Service and the Cleaning Service formerly known as Bedknobs & Broomstix. If the people knew that they were letting sick people into their houses to clean, would they have done so. With all, due honesty, yes we cleaned all the surfaces, but we could not clean and sanitize the air after sneezing and coughing, anymore than we could cover our mouths and work at the same time. After all, much of cleaning is a two handed operation. To cover the mouth to cover a cough would mean that there was a stop in the cleaning, which meant everyone would have to work faster to cover for it or risk getting into trouble for either going overtime or risk not getting all of the job done. This is why, what many learned to do was to charge the costumer only for the hours that they paid for, but charge the boss for the hours worked. So it can very much be argued that presenteeism is why many workers learn to lie--it comes down to can the person afford to tell the truth or do the really fear God enough--not to learn to lie this way?
This also reminds me, how angry my cleaning bosses would get, if someone did call off sick. I worked for Lora, who was as she described herself and her sister, Jane; Holy Ghost filled Born Again, In the Name of Jesus, Christians--who would get down right angry at a person for not coming to work, just because they have diarrhea. After all, at a cleaning service the person has plenty of chance to go to the bathroom as long as they are the ones cleaning the bathrooms, but forgetting or not caring that this would not only cause the other worker or workers to carry more of the load and or spread whatever is making that person sick to not only coworkers, but also to the household of the costumer. In addition, they also to revenge on the person for calling off, when they could. If the person was needed too much, then they could not; but when they could get away with it . . . 'Holy Ghost Filled Pain in the Asses'.
This also reminds me of the Convenient Food Mart, where we each took turns at slicing the deli meat and cheeses. If only more people know how many of those minimum wage workers go to work sick.
No comments:
Post a Comment