The idea of mandatory paid sick leave has been kicking around Congress for years. But as more people get sick with H1N1 flu virus, it could become a reality.
Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., announced this week that he's preparing emergency legislation that would require employers to provide up to seven days of paid sick leave to employees if they or their children get sick with the swine or seasonal flu.
The paid leave also would cover parents of children whose schools are closed because of flu outbreaks. About 600 schools nationwide have temporarily shut their doors as the disease spreads.
In the House this month, two California Democrats, Reps. George Miller and Lynn Woolsey, introduced a similar measure that would guarantee up to five paid sick days per year for a worker sent home or told to stay home by an employer for a contagious illness. A hearing on that bill is scheduled for next week.
Dodd calls paid sick leave a matter of basic fairness but as the H1N1 flu spreads, it's also become a public health concern because many workers who don't have paid sick leave can't afford to stay home. They go to work sick and then infect others around them, according to testimony earlier this week before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee on Children and Families.
And it's those typically low-income workers who have the most need, and who come in frequent contact with the public serving food and working in nursing homes and child care centers, Dodd said.
Just 1 in 4 low-wage workers has paid sick leave, according to Labor Department data.
While many details of Dodd's proposal are sketchy, the measure would go into effect in 15 days after being signed into law and would expire in two years.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/sixel/6716198.htmlThis LA Times article says they may act as early as next week:
Congress plans to consider legislation next week that would guarantee workers paid sick time.
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-me-swine-flu-workplace13-2009nov13,0,5633973.story