Paid Sick Leave | Press

Council Approves Sick Leave In District

03.05.2008 | Washington Post | The Washington D.C. Council voted unanimously to make Washington, D.C. the second city in the country to require employers to grant their workers paid sick leave. Under the Accrued Sick and Safe Leave Act, full-time employees at businesses with 100 or more workers will get seven days of paid leave, and employees at businesses with 24 or fewer workers will get three days. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty must sign the bill, and Congress has 90 days to review it before it takes effect. | Read

Paid sick leave makes sense for all workers in our state

01.25.2006 | Tacoma News Tribune | Our employers understand that a parent needs to be home with a sick child and that a sick worker is better at home, recovering, rather than at work, feeling lousy and getting other workers sick. It is a common-sense idea that should not be at the whimsy of each individual employer, but simply agreed to as the law. That’s what some of our state Reps had in mind last week. They introduced an important public health measure – minimum paid sick days. | Read

Get Well Soon: Without paid leave, four in 10 workers don’t have any other choice

02.14.2007 | Real Change News | Last fall I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I’m lucky that this potentially fatal disease was caught early, and my prospects are good. But to get to that good outcome requires nine grueling months of treatment. I figure by next summer I’ll have missed 320 hours of work, the equivalent of eight weeks, for surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and doctor’s visits. For 112 of those hours, the equivalent of 14 work days, I’ll need someone with me. I’m particularly lucky to have health insurance, paid leave, and supportive family and friends who also have paid leave. Not everyone is so fortunate. | Read