Follow up on the Healthy Families Act/ FIRST Act Hearing!

Last Thursday, the Committee on Education and Labor held a hearing on the Healthy Families Act and the FIRST Act. You can watch the archived webcast, shorter video clips, or read the testimony, to learn more. Some of the highlights:

• “19 of the 20 most competitive countries in the world guarantee paid sick days – and the United States is the odd one out.” US Representative Rosa DeLauro
• "…according to the CDC, 23% of all norovirus outbreaks occur in nursing homes (CDC 2006)…. About a quarter of nursing home workers nationally do not have paid sick day benefits.” Rajiv Bhatia, Director Occupational and Environmental Health Department of Public Health, San Francisco, CA
• “Providing paid leave is good for business. The Congressional Joint Economic Committee estimates that it costs nearly three times as much to replace an employee than to provide them with four weeks of paid parental leave.” Deborah Frett, CEO BPW Foundation, Washington, DC

You can also take action (thanks to MomsRising for the great sign-on letters!):

• Ask your legislators to cosponsor the Healthy Families Act! While five of Pennsylvania's legislators (four House members and Senator Casey) have cosponsored the bill already, the rest need to hear from you about why paid sick time is important to you and your family.
• Write to your legislators about the FIRST Act – so far no one from Pennsylvania has signed on as a cosponsor, but that can change with your help.
• 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.