Some state and local governments are creating laws that require businesses to give their employees a certain number of paid sick days. This is one way to help prevent the spread of germs and illness. However, in some cases, this could result in businesses dropping health insurance coverage.
I work from home. I make my living doing freelance writing. This means that I don’t have to worry about whether or not a sick co-worker is going to give me her cold. It also means that I have the ability to fit my work around when I am sick.
One disadvantage, of course, is that freelance work doesn’t come with paid sick days. Many people who work in offices, in retail, or in restaurants, have jobs that give them a certain amount of sick days. Ideally, this will help prevent the spread of germs. Workers who are sick can stay home, use a sick day, and still get paid for that day.
However, not all employers will give their workers paid sick leave. This is especially true for small businesses. This means that there are a lot of people who are having to make a tough choice. Should they call in sick, stay home, and hopefully get better? Or, should they go in to work while sick, “tough it out”, and be able to earn that day’s pay?
There aren’t any federal laws that require employers to give their workers a certain amount of paid sick days. There was a point in time when there was a chance that this type of law could have been created. It was during the time when “swine flu” was going around. I think that the idea was that if you give people paid sick days, then those people will use them when they catch something horrible, (such as “swine flu”).
Instead, some state governments, or local governments, are stepping in and creating those laws. For example, Connecticut requires companies to give five paid sick days, per year, to full-time workers. In Seattle, Washington, there is a law that requires companies that have five or more workers to provide paid sick leave.
People in favor of these laws point out paid sick leave could potentially prevent contagious illnesses from spreading around. They also say this will help to protect low-wage workers, who cannot afford to take an unpaid sick day, (and therefore, will come into the workplace while sick).
Opponents of these type of laws include owners of small businesses. The problem, in their view, is that if you make them pay workers for sick days, then that money has to come from somewhere. It means that something else is not going to get paid for. Some suggest that being forced to give workers paid sick days means that the business won’t be able to afford to offer employees health insurance anymore.
It is a strange way to look at things. Paid sick days would be a good way to prevent the spread of germs, and to keep workers in good health. However, if employers give workers paid sick days, and then take away their health insurance, this will not actually improve the health of workers.
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