The Healthy Families, Healthy Workplaces Act: Impacts on Workers, Employers, and the Public

Documentation of the limited coverage of existing paid sick days policies is incontrovertible.
Nearly half the private-sector workforce is vulnerable to loss of income or their job when they are sick, and only one in three has a paid sick days policy for caring for their family (Hartmann 2007, Lovell 2004). Employers’ voluntary efforts to provide paid sick days are inadequate for protecting workers, their co-workers and families, and the public from the consequences of workers being on the job when they are sick. As a result of inadequate policy development, workers are forced to go to work when they should stay home to recuperate or to provide needed care to their families.