Danielle Atkinson of Mothering Justice joined OKT staff members and spokesperson, board member Anita Moore, to share the rationale of paid sick days with local media. Moore was also acting on behalf of Black Lives Matter-GR. Representatives from WOOD TV-8 and WGVU were among media attending. The press conference also launched a strategic relationship between OKT, Black Lives Matter-GR and Mothering Justice. OKT looks forward to continuing to address policy issues with these two organizations. You can review the Michigan House Paid Sick Days Bill 4167 here.

Paid Sick Days: The Facts

• 3 million emergency room visits could be prevented each year in the United States, saving $1.1 billion annually. 1

• Sick workers who are not working at full productivity is estimated to cost employers $160 billion per year — twice as much as the cost of absenteeism due to illness. 2

• This past election, Massachusetts, Oakland, Calif. and two cities in New Jersey — Montclair and Trenton, passed paid sick day proposals. 3

• More than 1.5 million Michigan workers — about 46 percent of the state’s private sector workforce — are not able to take a paid sick day when they are ill. 4

• Only 19 percent of workers in the lowest tenth of wage earners have paid sick days. 5

• A study of the restaurant industry showed that nearly two-thirds of cooks and servers reported cooking or serving food while sick. 6

• Parents without paid sick days are more than twice as likely as parents with paid sick days to send a sick child to school or day care (28 percent vs. 13 percent). 7

• There are no federal legal requirements for paid sick leave. For companies subject to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the law only requires unpaid sick leave .8

• In a recent poll, 57 percent of respondents, including 79 percent of Democrats and 41 percent of Republicans, said it was “very important” for lawmakers to consider new laws to help keep working families economically secure, including ensuring workers the right to earn paid sick days. 9

• More than half of working mothers (54 percent) do not have paid sick days they can use to care for their sick children. 10

1 Miller, K., Williams, C., & Yi, Y. (2011, October 31). Paid Sick Days and Health: Cost Savings from Reduced Emergency Department Visits.Institute for Women’s Policy Research publication. Retrieved 10 October 2012, from http://www.iwpr.org/publications/ pubs/paid-sick-days-and-health-cost-savings-from-reduced-emergency-department-visits
2 Stewart, W., et al. (2003, December). Lost Productive Health Time Costs from Health Conditions in the United States: Results from the American Productivity Audit. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 45(12), 1234-1246. Retrieved 10 October 2012, fromhttp://www.workhealth.org/whatsnew/whnewrap/Stewart%20etal_lost%20productive%20work%20time%20costs%20health%20conditions%20in%20the%20US_%20Results%20from%20the%20American%20Productivity%20Audit%202003.pdf
3 National Partnership for Women & Families Press Release (November 2014) http://www.nationalpartnership.org/news-room/press-releases/massachusetts-voters-approve-nations-third-paid-sick-days-law.html
4 Williams, C. et al. (2010). Access to Paid Sick Days in the States, 2010. Institute for Women’s Policy Research publication. Retrieved 17May 2012, from http://www.iwpr.org/publications/pubs/access-to-paid-sick-days-in-the-states-2010
5 National Partnership for Women & Families Press Release (November 2014) http://www.nationalpartnership.org/news-room/press-releases/massachusetts-voters-approve-nations-third-paid-sick-days-law.html
6 See footnote #5
7 http://www.nationalpartnership.org/research-library/work-family/psd/paid-sick-days-improve-our-public-health.pdf
8 http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/workhours/sickleave.htm
9 http://www.nationalpartnership.org/research-library/work-family/lake-research-and-tarrance-group-2014-midterm-election-omnibus-poll-results.pdf
10 http://www.nationalpartnership.org/research-library/work-family/psd/working-women-need-paid-sick-days.pdf