California Could Become First in Nation to Guarantee Paid Sick Days for All Workers

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

Poll Shows Strong Support for Legislation Introduced for Californians to Earn Time Off to Recover from Illness or Care for Sick Family Members

By Frank D. Russo

Assemblymember Fiona Ma, backed by a coalition including the California Labor Federation and a number of statewide organizations, has introduced AB 2716, which would make California the first state in the nation to ensure paid sick days for all workers. Under Ma’s bill, workers would earn paid sick days, which they can use for personal illness, family medical issues and to recover from domestic violence or assault. Maine, Massachusetts, Ohio and Washington DC, are considering similar legislation.

Right now, nearly six million working Californians currently receive zero paid sick days through their employers.

Earlier this week, Ma appeared on the steps of San Francisco City Hall with supporters to release the results of a poll that shows that 88% of California adults support a change in the law guaranteeing paid sick days. This includes 76% of Republicans, 88% of independents, and 92% of Democrats. The survey, conducted in 2007 by Ruth Milkman of UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (as part of the 2007 Golden Bear Omnibus Survey administered by the UC Berkeley Survey Research Center) is based on 921 responses between April 30 and Sept. 2, 2007.

Respondents were asked the following question:

“Currently, only about half of all workers are provided with paid sick days. How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following statement: ‘There should be a law that guarantees 7 paid sick days a year to all California workers.’”

In all categories, by age, income, race, and gender, support was 75% or higher for the concept.

San Francisco voters passed Proposition F in 2006 that provided all workers in the city with the ability to earn and use paid sick days. Shortly after the one year anniversary of the law, AB 2716 was introduced to allow a worker to use paid sick time for up to 40 hours or 5 days in each calendar year for workers of small businesses, and 72 hours or 9 days per calendar year for all other workers. Studies have found that having paid sick days actually saves money for businesses by reducing turnover and reducing the spread of illness in the workplace, and improving workers’ morale and productivity.