The flu season is hitting us hard this year. With it comes the complex question: “Do I tough it out at work or lose a day’s pay?” Forty million Americans do not have sick leave and they are more likely to choose the first alternative, infecting co-workers and even lengthening their recovery time. In fact, a 2011 study in the American Journal of Public Health estimated that a lack of sick time helped spread five million cases of flu-like illness during the 2009 swine flu outbreak.
The issue of paid sick leave is far from being settled or dealt with uniformly in this country. Connecticut, for example, passed its own paid sick leave law which became effective January 1, 2012. New York City is still debating paid sick leave and the controversy rages hot and heavy. Paid sick leave laws exist in San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. In Milwaukee and Philadelphia, paid sick leave laws were passed but then vetoed.
