Report Calls for Emergency Sick Leave to Prepare for H1N1

A new report from the Trust for America's Health states that if 35% of Americans become ill due to H1N1, 4,356,898 Pennsylvanians would become ill, with more than 63,000 needing to be hospitalized. The report also states that "Nearly half of private sector workers do not have any paid sick leave benefits, which means millions of Americans will face losing their jobs if they are sick or going to work and contaminating others."

In order to prepare for H1N1, this report calls for the establishment of emergency sick leave for workers in the event of a pandemic flu. It also calls for Congress to pass the Healthy Families Act, which would ensure that all workers in the United States have the opportunity to earn paid sick leave to care for themselves and their families.

You can take action on the Healthy Families Act

  • Ask your legislators to cosponsor the Healthy Families Act! While some of Pennsylvania's legislators have cosponsored the bill already, the rest need to hear from you about why paid sick time is important to you and your family.
  • Join us on Facebook to support earned sick time in Pennsylvania and in Philadelphia, or become part of our coalition of advocates and businesses working to ensure all Philadelphians and Pennsylvanians have the opportunity to earn sick time.
Also, please tell us what you think about the need for paid sick leave in the comments: do you have paid leave? If not, what do you do when you or your children are sick?

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