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In a nation that was sharply divided about government health mandates during the covid-19 pandemic, the public has been warming to the idea of government rules providing for paid sick leave.
Before the pandemic, 10 states and the District of Columbia had laws requiring employers to provide paid sick leave. Since then, Colorado, New York, New Mexico, Illinois, and Minnesota have passed laws offering some kind of paid time off for illness. Oregon and California expanded previous paid leave laws. In Missouri, Alaska, and Nebraska, advocates are pushing to put the issue on the ballot this fall.
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Wething noted that the lost wages of even a day or two can be equivalent to a month’s worth of gasoline a worker would need to get to their job, or the choice between paying an electric bill or buying food. Wething said showing up to work sick poses a risk to co-workers and customers alike. Low-paying jobs that often lack paid sick leave — like cashiers, nail technicians, home health aides, and fast-food workers — involve lots of face-to-face interactions.
“So paid sick leave is about both protecting the public health of a community and providing the workers the economic security that they desperately need when they need to take time away from work,” she said.
The National Federation of Independent Business has opposed mandatory sick leave rules at the state level, arguing that workplaces should have the flexibility to work something out with their employees when they get sick.
What a dishonest statement. They know the burden put on the employee and that a great many of them are forcing themselves to work sick because they don’t really have the option. If employers were flexible with the employees we wouldn’t be in this position.
The group said the cost of paying workers for time off, extra paperwork, and lost productivity burdens small employers.
Oh yes, let’s not treat a person with decency because God forbid there is some extra paperwork to fill out.
I work 60 hours a week without any overtime (yes I’m hourly) or sick time.
Hell I get my vacation paid lump sum once a year so I don’t even get PTO time to use.
Shit should be illegal
What do you do for work?
In the dispatch office of a trucking company.
Having a CDL and once in a while taking loads that need covered (once a month?) I fall under overtime exemptions for truck drivers
I lost my paid sick leave in one of these mandated sick time states, and because I had PTO that was deemed acceptable. I lost dozens of hours worth of paid time off, and now have to make up missed shifts on the weekend or risk getting written up. Oh, and now we can’t request time off without being physically in the building, so even if I wanted to use my limited PTO for sick time, I literally can’t unless I plan ahead my sickness.
