(click on image for a larger version)From the Center for Economic and Policy Research
This report finds that the U.S. is the only country among 22 countries ranked highly in terms of economic and human development that does not guarantee that workers receive paid sick days or paid sick leave. Under current U.S. labor law, employers are not required to provide short-term paid sick days or longer-term paid sick leave. By relying solely on voluntary employer policies to provide paid sick days or leave to employees, tens of millions of U.S. workers are without paid sick days or leave. As a result, each year millions of American workers go to work sick, lowering productivity and potentially spreading illness to their coworkers and customers."Not really any surprise here, but it's nice to have the numbers."
thanks A.
3 comments:
Despite all the studies that point our going in to work sick is worse for productivity than staying home and taking a paid day, any time someone suggests that we improve a worker's lot with mandated vacation/sick time or give them actual paid leave for family matters, the "zOMG! SOCIALISM!" cries appear and the populace cowers in fear until the issue has safely been killed again.
Then those same forces wonder why the populace is chronically sick at work and unhappy with their lives.
not to mention the logical repercussions when a pandemic comes knocking--sick workers won't take time off for fear of losing the days' wages or losing the job altogether. Non-union food service workers are prime candidates for that predicament and also happen do be in the best (worst?) possible position to transmit a virus to the general population.
And the worst part about it is, there's also those studies that say if you took a sick day and stayed home, you shorten the time you're sick, so you can get back to full power faster than muddling through workdays sick.
It'll take a recall of products that were handled by a sick worker before anyone considers that they might be good people to offer sick time to. Don't you love the swift way our pro-business capitalism responds to the needs of the people driving the economic engine?
Post a Comment