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Why Don’t U.S. Employers Give Sick Leave?
Many Americans have no paid sick days, or face pushback for using them
The recent coronavirus epidemic has spotlighted a glaring problem in the U.S.: a lack of paid sick leave.
There is currently no federal mandate for employers to give Americans paid sick leave. Instead, there is the Family Medical Leave Act, which gives unpaid leave for up to 12 weeks. To qualify, employees have to meet certain requirements, such as working at a job for at least a year, and have a doctor sign off that they need leave. But since almost half of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, many people can’t afford to take unpaid time off.
Twelve states currently require employers to give paid sick leave. (My state is one of them, but I’ve personally received pushback when I tried to use my sick days.) And most jobs only guarantee a limited number of sick days, nowhere near the 14 required for a quarantine.
Instead, our culture promotes “presenteeism,” forcing people to work through their illness. A play on “absenteeism,” presenteeism is when people come in to work sick and push through it. One study found that 90% of Americans go to work when they’re sick.
But coming in to work is actually worse for productivity, since sick people don’t get much…
