How Does “Mandatory Paid Sick Leave” Affect You?

pspanFor quite some time, jurisdictions have had laws on the books requiring that employers grant employees sick leave /spanspanwithout/spanspan pay. Mandatory compensation while away for sick leave had never really been an issue. Over the past few years, however, momentum has been increasing to make it the law that workers be compensated while away from work for time taken off for sick leave./span/p p /p pspanOne of the most prevalent arguments in favor of mandatory paid sick leave is that the employee can’t afford financially to take time away from the workplace while ill. In this scenario, the sick employee chooses to return to the workplace, thus exposing co-workers to the very germs that made them sick in the first place. So, instead of staying home recuperating from their illness, a contagious returning employee increases the chance that co-workers will get sick and further damage the productivity of the company./span/p p /p pspanOn the other hand, opponents (employers) /spana target=_blank href=https://www.freedomfoundation.com/files/documents/The%20Effect%20of%20Ma... that the mandatory paid sick leave measures make it that much harder to remain competitive and hire new employees. Furthermore, business groups contend that requiring firms to provide paid sick leave benefits will force them to raise prices and consider reducing employees’ hours or other benefits./span/p p /p pspanAccording to NationalPartnership.org, mandatory sick leave supposedly affords the following /spana target=_blank href=http://www.paidsickdays.org/research-resources/quick-facts.html#.VnhSb8t... p /p ul li /p pa target=_blank href=http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2013.301269spanAccess to paid sick days reduces the spread of the flu in the workplace/span/aspan by nearly six percent./span/p p /li p /p li pa target=_blank href=http://www.nationalpartnership.org/research-library/work-family/psd/paid... sick days save employers money by reducing turnover./span/aspan /span/p p /li p /p li pspanIf workers were offered seven paid sick days a year, our national economy /spana target=_blank href=http://www.nationalpartnership.org/research-library/work-family/psd/paid... experience a net savings of $160 billion a year/span/aspan due to increased productivity and reduced turnover./span/p p /li p /p li pa target=_blank href=http://www.nationalpartnership.org/research-library/work-family/psd/fami... sick days help family caregivers/span/aspan manage both their caregiving responsibilities and the jobs they need to support their families. Sixty-six million American adults are unpaid caregivers for family members or friends — and the number is growing./span/p p /li p /ul pspanThis /spana target=_blank href=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/01/11/states-cities-pres... graphic/span/aspan at USA Today shows the states and cities where paid sick leave is required or being considered, as well as which states have prohibited local governments from enacting their own paid sick leave requirements./span/p p /p pspanFrom the governmental perspective, a/spanspant present, many government employees have access to paid sick days. All states provide paid sick days to at least some state employees, and the federal government provides thirteen paid sick days a year to its nearly 2.5 million full-time employees that can be used for self or family care. /spanspanA chart summarizing the key points in existing paid sick days statutes (updated as of December 2015), and a brief overview of the policies (as of August 1, 2015), is viewable at /spana target=_blank href=http://www.nationalpartnership.org/research-library/work-family/psd/paid... p /p