No Time to Be Sick

Summary

This report highlights the importance of paid sick leave in building a strong, healthy workforce. It tells how current benefits fall short, who still lacks access (nearly half of all private sector employees!), and what policymakers can do to expand paid sick leave programs in America.  

Table of Contents

• About this Report
• Abstract
• Table of Contents
• List of Tables and Figures
• Introduction
• Policy Content
• Incidence of Illness Among Workers and Children
• The Costs of Not Having Paid Sick Leave
• Why Workers Need Sick Leave Even if They Have Vacation Leave
• Who Has Paid Sick Leave
• Permitted Uses of Paid Sick Leave
• Low-Wage Workers and Paid Sick Leave
• Paid Sick Leave and Women
• Summary and Policy Recommendations
• Appendix: The BLS Dataset
• Endnotes
• References
• About the Institute for Women’s Policy Research

Key Takeaway

Our approach to paid sick leave is broken — and failing tens of millions of workers

American employers are reducing their paid sick leave programs. This means that an increasing number of employees must make a difficult decision when they fall ill: Clock in to work anyway or put their jobs in jeopardy by taking unauthorized time off.