Report: Paid Sick Days Help Businesses
Yesterday the the National Partnership for Women and Families, Working Families and ACORN released what they’re calling an in-depth economic analysis of the proposed paid sick days bill. Here’s what they found, according to a release:
“This bill turns out to be a benefits for employers, employees and the public health,” said Steffany Stern, policy Analyst with the National Partnership for Women and Families. “The costs to businesses of providing paid sick days are outweighed by the benefits of reduced spread of disease in the workplace, and reduced turnover.”“Working when you’re sick can really have a negative impact productivity,” said Representative Diana Urban, who is a co-sponsor of the bill. “Forcing workers to go to work sick has substantial productivity costs.” Representative Urban is also a Professor of Economics and Political Science.
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Some key findings of the study:* The 25-employee threshold in the proposed legislation protects most small ‘Mom and Pop’ businesses. In fact, setting a threshold any higher risks exempting nearly all food service employees, undermining the public health protections.
* Even with access to seven paid sick days per year, most employees will only take a few.
* The savings to businesses associated with paid sick days outweigh the costs.
The bill has drawn criticism as being anti-business. Read the full report here. You can also listen to a robocall from John Edwards supporting the bill.