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Get the Facts on Paid Sick Days
In
North Carolina, nearly half of the state’s private workforce lack paid
sick days. Currently, there is no federal or state law that ensures
that workers can earn paid sick days.
Paid sick days enhance public health and lower public health costs.
When
employees go to work sick, their germs become our germs. Hundreds of
thousands of North Carolina employees without sick days work in the food
service, health care, and retail sectors. They prepare our food, sell
our groceries, and care for the sick and elderly. Infectious illness is
particularly harmful in institutional settings like schools and nursing
homes, where vulnerable populations are in close contact.
- A
recent report found that 87.7 percent of more than 4,000 restaurant
workers surveyed lacked access to paid sick days, and 63 percent of
respondents stated they cooked and served food while sick. Click here to learn more...
- A
recent study of employees and employers in San Francisco found that
parents with access to paid sick days were more than 20 percent less
likely to send a sick child to school than parents without paid sick
days. Click here to learn more...
- Paid
sick days also provide significant cost savings to public health. A
recent study’s findings suggest that by shifting treatment away from the
emergency-room setting, universal sick days would decrease health
expenditures by approximately $1 billion annually. Click here to learn more...
Paid sick days support economic security.
For
too many workers, losing a day's pay (or even a job) is as easy as
catching a cold. Missing a day’s pay to take a child to the doctor
could mean missing a mortgage payment or falling deeper into debt.
Especially in these economic times, just a few paid sick days a year can
provide working families a much-needed measure of economic security.
- In
North Carolina, only 30.5 percent of private-sector workers in North
Carolina earning less than $25,000 per year have access to paid sick
days.
- Missing
3.5 days of work can cost a family consisting of two full-time
average-wage earners $280, an amount equal to a family's entire monthly
food budget. Click here to learn more...
- A
recent survey focusing on economic insecurity after the recession found
that 41 percent of women and 45 percent of men surveyed felt they
risked losing their jobs for missing work, regardless of the reason for
the absence. Click here to learn more...
Paid sick days are smart business.
By
allowing employees to earn paid sick time, employers can increase
productivity at the workplace and save money in the long run. Employees
who come to work sick are less productive and recover slower. They’re
also likely to get their co-workers sick, which reduces productivity and
increases absenteeism. Paid sick days help retain good employees and
keep turnover costs low.
- The savings from providing paid sick days outweigh the costs by over $3.50 per employee hour.
- Presenteeism
(the practice of employees coming to work sick) costs employers $180
billion annually—considerably more than the cost of absenteeism. Click here to learn more...
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 | Campaign Updates
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Check out our comprehensive work-family report -want to read a blueprint for making North Carolina's 20th Century workplace policies match our 21st Century workforce? Then check out our vision-setting new report here.
Know Your Rights trainings across the state-We've been traveling around the state to present Know Your Rights' trainings for workers. We've been from the mountains to the sea building support for family-friendly workplace policies. Want us to come to you? Contact us by email.
Tell us your stories: We’re collecting stories from people across the state about their experiences juggling caregiving and work. Share your experience—good, bad, or ugly.
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