CAREERS EDITION 2015
For low-Income workers, calling in sick is a luxury
NEW YORK (AP) — For
Shannon Henderson, get-
ting a cold or flu could be
the difference between put-
ting food on the table and
going hungry.
As a part-time customer
service representative at a
Wal-Mart in Sacramento,
ing companies for wage
hikes are steering the con-
versation toward paid sick
leave. The debate has
caught the attention of gov-
ernments and companies
alike.
President Barack Obama
is calling for federal legisla-
tion that would require
companies to guarantee
workers paid sick days. And
for Family Values @ Work,
a network of coalitions
fighting to pass paid sick
days and family leave poli-
cies. “When you don’t have
sick pay, you get docked.”
The new focus comes
amid wide disparities
between
the
benefits
received by the top and bot-
tom rungs of the corporate
ladder. Sixty-one percent of
Some of the same workers’ rights groups that
grabbed headlines recently by pushing
companies for wage hikes are steering the
conversation toward paid sick leave
California, Henderson is
one of an estimated 40 mil-
lion American workers for
who calling in sick is a lux-
ury. If they don’t work, they
don’t get paid.
“I’m super afraid of get-
ting sick,” said Henderson,
29, who slathers on hand
sanitizer at work in hopes of
fending off illness.
Paid sick leave is the next
frontier in the fight for the
country’s lowest earners.
Some of the same workers’
rights groups that grabbed
headlines recently by push-
since San Francisco started
requiring that in 2007, near-
ly 20 cities and three states
— Connecticut, Massachu-
setts and California — have
passed similar measures.
New York, Maryland and
other states are considering
laws too. And McDonald’s
Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores
Inc., which have announced
wage hikes recently, are
making changes to their
paid sick leave policies.
“Paid sick days are
a job issue,” said Ellen
Bravo, executive director
U.S. workers get at least
one paid sick day, according
to a national compensation
survey of employee benefits
conducted last year by the
Bureau of Labor Statistics.
But only 20 percent of
workers whose wages are at
the bottom 10 percent get
paid sick leave, compared
with 87 percent in the top 10
percent. There’s also a dif-
ference when comparing
part-time and full-time
employees: Seventy-four
percent of full-time workers
get paid sick leave, while 24
AP PHOTO/RICH PEDRONCELLI
Anne D’innocenzio
AP Retail Writer
In this Friday, may 15, 2015 photo, shannon henderson poses outside the wal-
mart store where she works as a part-time customer service representative, in
sacramento, calif. henderson is one of an estimated 40 million american
workers for who calling in sick is a luxury. If they don’t work, they don’t get
paid.
percent of part-time work-
ers do, according to BLS.
Despite the disparities,
some industry groups are
fighting against laws requir-
ing sick leave pay. Lisa
Horn, director of congres-
sional affairs at Society for
Human Resource Manage-
ment, a human resource
management trade group,
says many companies are
leaning toward policies that
lump sick, personal and
vacation days together. But
she says laws force compa-
nies to scale back on those
benefits to keep down the
costs associated with people
taking sick days off.
“These mandates have a
chilling effect on employ-
See SICK on page 8
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June 3, 2015 The Portland and Seattle Skanner Careers Edition Page 5