Health Beat: The Case For Paid Sick Leave in Hawaii
The state should mandate this benefit for employees, who then will recover more quickly without infecting their co-workers.
It started Sunday night.
I figured that since I had left the air conditioner on all night, along with the floor fan and the ceiling fan, my sore throat was because of the luxurious cold air. Given our recent heat wave, I just wanted to enjoy a little comfort that night.
It turned out to be a fever, and by Monday morning, the infection had taken hold. Slight chills, sore throat, a hoarse voice, and then, the cough. I hate the cough, that deep hack that hurts inside when you least expect it.
I went to work anyway, but most people would have stayed home. In fact, I tell my own patients to stay home.
But all too often, they can鈥檛. Why? Because they don鈥檛 have any paid sick leave, and they can鈥檛 afford not to go to work.
Or they do have sick leave, but the first three days comes out of their vacation time, and then their sick leave kicks in. Or their work policy is that they have to show up sick, and then be sent home when their supervisor agrees that they shouldn鈥檛 be at work. But at that point they have already infected their colleagues, and that鈥檚 how infections spread in the workplace.
Why doesn鈥檛 Hawaii have mandated paid sick leave? Well, we are not alone, there is no federal mandate for paid sick leave, or any sick leave for that matter. According to the U.S. Department of Labor,听 the 听 states there is no requirement for any payment for time not worked, vacation, sick leave, or holidays
In fact, the听听 that does not have any mandatory paid sick leave.
That doesn鈥檛 mean no one has leave, it just that it鈥檚 up to employers to develop their own policy for sick leave, vacation, and holiday pay, and it鈥檚 up to workers to accept it. Unfortunately, for many lower-wage workers, that means not getting anything at all. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than one in three workers does not receive paid sick leave, including 22 percent of听full-time workers, and more than three-quarters of part-time workers.
That鈥檚 about to change. President Barak Obama declared that all federal contractors have to provide their employees with up to seven days of
But where does that leave the rest of us?
Some jurisdictions have taken it upon themselves to pass provisions of the act. Since 2004, Connecticut, California and Massachusetts have mandated paid sick leave, along with certain cities: San Francisco, Washington, Seattle, Portland, New York, San Diego, Newark, Oakland and my hometown of Philadelphia. Workers in these locations are protected and have paid sick leave to take care of an illness for themselves or their families, at least up to five days a year, for some even longer.
Hawaii should be next.
Would you want a restaurant worker who has听the flu preparing your food? Should those who work in child care or nursing homes be forced to work while sick, and then risk infecting those who are so vulnerable to complications from even the slightest cold or flu?
What if that was your child who got sick at day care, and you needed to stay home with him or her?听For many folks taking a day off to care for a sick child results in a loss of pay, or even with pay, the threat of being put on attendance probation because of calling in sick for a medical illness that was unexpected, and unplanned.
Don鈥檛 even get me started on the threats that I have heard take place during the holidays! From Dec. 15 to Jan. 15, anyone who calls in sick where I work is facing stiff penalties if they don鈥檛 bring a doctor鈥檚 note or some proof of illness. This is very common in areas such as retail, where the holidays are the biggest sales days of the year, and having personnel is crucial.
I do understand that it takes reliable workers to show up to run a business in any industry. But as a doctor, I also know what it feels like to be sick, to want to take a few Tylenol, curl up in bed and get a few more hours’ sleep. After all, recent studies have shown that it鈥檚 often the 听in the first place.
Hawaii needs to take the lead and provide the time off for those who really need it and mandate paid sick leave. People need time to get over an illness, and then they can come back to work more productive and less contagious. Most people are honest, and won鈥檛 abuse the system if it鈥檚 fair and available for all.
Sometimes the best way to get over a cold is to just get a good book to read, a box of tissues, and find a nice comfortable place to take a nap while letting the body recover. It happens quicker than you think if you take the time you need in the beginning.听
