Policy Pick: Paid Sick Leave

Workers who do take time off to visit the doctor or stay home with a sick child lose valuable income and, in some cases, risk being fired. It is estimated that in California, over 40 percent of the labor force has no paid sick leave to attend to their health needs or those of their loved ones. Recently, however, the California state legislature became involved in efforts to address this very critical problem.

On April 15, 2008, AB 2716, the California Paid Sick Days bill, passed out of the Labor and Employment Committee, into the full Assembly. Introduced by Assemblywoman Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco), the bill would require employers to provide paid sick leave for its employees to enable them to better care for themselves or for children, spouses, or aging parents who have fallen ill.

Co-sponsored by the California Labor Federation and the California Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), the bill would allow workers in smaller companies to take up to five days of paid sick leave per calendar year. All other workers would be able to take up to nine days per calendar year. As an added benefit, the bill is estimated to save state workers and their families $7 million in annual health care expenses.

In 2007, San Francisco became the first and only city in the country to require employers to provide paid sick leave to its employees, even extending the benefit to temporary and part-time workers. If AB 2716 becomes law, California would have the proud distinction of being the first state in the nation to legislate the importance of taking time to get well or to help a loved one heal.

‹‹Back to this week's Monday Morning Report