Vermont Paid Sick Day Legislation (H. 337)
Sick Day Coalition Members: Vermont Commission on Women, Voices for Vermont's Children, Vermont Livable Wage Campaign - Peace and Justice Center, United Professions/AFT Vermont, Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility
THE REALITY FOR WORKING FAMILIES:
- 66% or nearly two-thirds of Vermont's private-sector employers offer NO paid sick days to their workers.
- Nationally, 47% of full-time, private-sector workers have NO paid sick days and a total of 59 million working Americans can't take a single paid sick day for care of their own health.
- The lowest wage workers are hit the hardest. Nationally, three in four low-wage workers (76%) have no paid sick days. Research from the Urban Institute also shows that for working parents with incomes below 200% of the FPL, 41% have no paid leave of any kind!
- Working women are most acutely affected, many of whom are still predominantly responsible for meeting family care giving needs. Almost half (49%) of working mothers report that they must miss work when a child is sick. And of these mothers, 49% do not get paid when they miss work to care for a sick child.
THE COST FOR ALL VERMONTERS:
The Public Health Concern - When workers go to work sick because they can not afford to take a day without pay it puts all Vermonters at risk - no one should have to make the choice between their health and their rent or food. Public health is a concern when parents have to send their children to school sick because they can't take the day off. Our elderly are at risk when their care attendants can't take the time to make themselves healthy before caring for our parents. Our health is at risk when workers who prepare food for our children in school or for our families at restaurants can't afford to stay home when they are sick. The Vermont economy is moving in a direction where more and more Vermonters are in close contact, while paying lower wages, creating a situation where public health will become a bigger issue.
Nationally, 86 Million working Americans do not have paid sick days to use to care for a sick child. Recent research finds that parents without at-home caregivers need about four (4) days per year to care for sick school-age children.
The Vermont Economy and the Public Health Effect - Currently, service-sector workers and those that work directly with the public disproportionately lack paid sick days. Nationally, only 14% of food and public accommodation workers have any paid sick leave. Workers in child care centers, retail clerks, and nursing homes also disproportionately lack this important benefit.
Vermont's service-sector, specifically in Educational and Health Services, has seen the largest job growth from 2000-2006 - the economy is evolving in a way that puts more and more Vermonters in close contact. Within the Education and Health Services the greatest job creation has been in Social Assistance (4,565 new jobs), however these are low-wages jobs that pay an average annual wage of $16,888.
Vermont's top three areas with the greatest number of annual job openings (as a percentage of total openings) are Sales & Related (mostly retail) at 13%, Office & Administrative Support at 13% and Food Preparation and Serving Related at 11%. Since these jobs tend to pay lower wages, these workers are most acutely affected when they have to miss a paycheck because they can't work.
The jobs available and being creating in Vermont are jobs that disproportionately provide NO paid sick days, but they are the services that we relay on for our care and interact directly with on a daily basis. When Vermonters who are working in nursing homes, preparing food or taking care of our children have to go to work sick it presents huge public health issues.
Lost Productivity, Cost and Presenteeism - Presenteeism is defined as lost productivity that occurs when employees come to work but perform below par due to any kind of illness. This obviously translates into a monetary loss for employers when their employees work but aren't as productive due to illness.
A national study by AdvancePCS, a provider of health improvement services, found that lost productivity was significantly GREATER from days at work while sick (72%) compared to missed work days due to illness (28%). Thus, of the total lost productivity tab of $250 billion annually, the estimated presenteeism cost is $180 billion.
Employers that provide sick days benefit from reduced turn-over, higher productively and the reductions of illness spreading to other employees. Failure to take time off to regain one's health can actually lead to longer absences because health worsens a cost which can then be transferred to the employer in health costs.
EVERY VERMONTER GAINS: Children and family members will receive the care they need, employers will experience savings in reduces turnover, consumers will be less likely to catch an illness from public spaces and all will benefit from an over all improvement in well-being.
SOURCES:
Vermont Dept. of Labor, Economic and Labor Market Information Division, Fringe Benefits in Vermont - 2005
Vicky Lovell, No Time to be Sick: Why Everyone Suffers when Workers Don't Have Paid Sick Leave, Institute for Women's Policy Research, May 2004
Ibid
Kaiser Family Foundation, “Women, Work and Family Health: A Balancing Act”, Issue Brief, April 2003
Vicky Lovell, No Time to be Sick
Paul Cillo & Doug Hoffer, “The State of Working Vermont 2007”, Issue Brief, Sept. 2007, source VT Dept. of Labor
VT Dept. of Labor, Occupational Projections 2004 - 2014, released 10/30/06
Stewar, W., Matousek, D., & Verdon, C. (2003) The American Productivity Audit and the Campaign for Work and Health. The Center for Work and Health, Advance PCS.
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