Sick Days and Family Medical Leave

The nation has entered an exciting new era that will allow millions of lower-wage workers to access health care insurance. Tragically, many of these workers will be unable to take advantage of this historic new benefit because they cannot take time off of work to get the care they need due to lack of earned sick days. With no job protections or paid sick leave, these workers face impossible choices between taking time to access healthcare for themselves or their loved ones and potentially losing wages or even their jobs.

At the same time, the nation is celebrating the 20^th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), an historic act that allowed many workers time to care for themselves or their loved ones. However, many workers are unable to take advantage of this policy, which guarantees only unpaid leave, because they cannot afford to take to with family without pay. Many more remain ineligible for even unpaid leave, because their employer is exempt from the policy or they have insufficient tenure in their job.

As part of its work life and job quality work, CLASP advocates for state and federal earned sick days and paid family and medical leave insurance policies that will prevent more workers from being denied the time to tend to their own or a family member's health, or care for a new child. Across the country, campaigns to secure these workplace protections for all workers are gaining momentum.

In Focus

Business Associations Launch “Better Workplaces, Better Businesses” Website

The first-ever national compilation of business supporters for earned sick days and family leave insurance is now available online through a partnership between the American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC), the Main Street Alliance and Social Venture Network (SVN). Previously, listings of businesses supporting paid leave legislation were only available on sites for individual campaigns. “Better Workplaces, Better Businesses” not only offers a central listing of businesses who support federal, state, and local laws that provide employees earned sick days and family leave insurance, but also provides the latest business and leave news clips, research, polling, business testimony, and more.

“Our goal is to give members of the business community the information and resources they need to advance better workplace practices and policies. We see these workplace tools as beneficial since better workplaces make for successful businesses,” explained ASBC CEO, David Levine.

Makini Howell, owner of Plum Restaurants in Seattle and a national steering committee member of Main Street Alliance added: “The movement for paid sick days and family leave insurance is growing, with increasing engagement from small businesses around the country adding to the momentum. When employers in one city can see that their peers in other parts of the country are hard at work creating positive policy change, that’s good for both employers and employees. It helps bring more businesses into the fold. We’re making more tools and resources available, which will help drive continued growth.”