PAID SICK DAYS, A PSARA ISSUE

By Robby Stern

PSARA strongly supports the enactment of an ordinance mandating a minimum standard for paid sick days in Seattle. Here are the reasons why.

During the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, the key public health message was “stay home when you’re sick.” Some were able to heed that message, but many others were not. The H1N1 virus spread in work places and schools as children were sent to school sick because their parents could not afford to take time off work without pay.

The Economic Opportunity Institute (EOI), reports that four in ten Seattle workers get no sick leave, among them thousands of restaurant, grocery, and health care workers who are on the front lines of food safety and public health. In all, an estimated 190,000 Seattle workers have no paid sick days.

Quoting from the EOI Report:
“Food borne illness has a major impact on health and the economy in the United States. According to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), every year one out of six Americans gets sick from food, resulting in 125,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths. About 20 percent of cases can be traced to an ill food worker. Elderly people are particularly vulnerable to food borne illnesses such as norovirus … The CDC estimates there are more than 21 million annual cases of norovirus, and half of all cases of food-borne illness in the U.S. can be attributed to norovirus infection. Norovirus symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, cramping and fever…Of the cases analyzed by the CDC from July 1997 to June 2000, 57% were caused by food, which most often became contaminated by an infected food handler immediately prior to consumption.”

The CDC advises that the measures most likely to significantly reduce the incidence of norovirus are “correct handling of cold foods, frequent hand washing, and provision of paid sick leave...” The King County Public Health Department strongly supports a paid sick days ordinance.

Since most restaurants do not offer paid sick time, ill employees are forced to choose between taking unpaid leave or going to work sick. A recent report in the Journal of Food Protection found that, in the past year, 19.8 percent had worked while experiencing vomiting or diarrhea. Another survey of more than 4,300 U.S. restaurant workers in eight metropolitan regions of the U.S. found that 88 percent did not receive paid sick time and that 63 percent had worked serving or preparing food while sick.

Access to paid sick days is unequal. Eighty percent of people earning above the median hourly wage get paid sick days; only 19 percent of the bottom 10 percent wage earners receive paid sick days. Women are far more likely than men not to have paid sick days. Latinos and African Americans are also less likely to have paid sick days.

My wife is a school nurse in a school with a high percentage of lower income families. She frequently tells me of children being sent to school with fevers, or children getting sick at school. When she calls the parents, all too often they are unable to pick up their children. Another frequent phenomenon is older siblings missing a day of school because they have to stay home with a younger sister or brother who is too sick to go to school.

Elderly people are particularly vulnerable to the spread of viruses and infections. The well-publicized growth in resistance of infections to antibiotics makes the spread of diseases even more dangerous for all of us, but particularly for seniors. The realization that people who handle our food in the grocery stores and people who help us care for ourselves often do not have access to paid sick days makes the need for a minimum standard even more apparent.

Although some employers support the establishment of a paid sick days standard, very powerful forces are lined up against it. The same business associations who declared the sky was falling when they opposed the 1998 minimum wage standard are now contending that a paid sick days standard will ruin businesses in Seattle. The Seattle Times, using the term “nanny government,” has announced its opposition. Opponents’ economic arguments are countered by the fact that San Francisco has had a similar standard for four years and has seen an increase in employment.

Several Seattle City Council members who greeted the proponents of the ordinance with expressions of support may now be getting cold feet and seeking to delay consideration of the ordinance.

Kudos go to Councilmembers (and PSARA members) Nick Licata, sponsor of the ordinance, and Jean Godden, co-sponsor. Councilmember Bruce Harrell (not yet a PSARA member) has also agreed to co-sponsor the ordinance. These councilmembers are supporting immediate consideration and passage of the ordinance.

Some have said this should not be a “campaign” issue. Well, it IS a campaign issue. We’ll be calling on our members to attend various actions and hearings to express your support for a minimum paid sick days standard. We will also let you know where all council members and Mayor McGinn stand on the issue.

This ordinance will protect our parents, children and grandchildren. It is good for our community. We’ll be calling on you for help to establish paid sick days in the city of Seattle.