"Back-to-School Blues"

It's back-to-school time and across the country, and parents are double checking their back-to-school supply list: Backpacks? Check. New crayons and pencils? Check. Notebooks? Check. Earned paid sick days? Not for nearly 40 million Americans.

Wait, back up, earned sick days are a back-to-school essential?

Absolutely! Let's face it: Kids share everything, especially germs, and especially in school. Moms and dads know this, and want to protect the health of all children. But when working parents are unable to earn paid sick days, they are faced with a difficult choice: Send their child to school sick or stay home with their child and risk losing a day's pay or possibly even their jobs.

Tell your members of Congress "Welcome back from August Recess - Now, it's time to help us prepare for the new school year by passing the Healthy Families Act so that all working parents have access to earned paid sick days."

http://action.momsrising.org/go/2142?t=4&akid=3477.197376.ANUzD6

Earned paid sick days aren't just a critical school supply; they're good for the national economy too. Access to earned paid sick days keeps people in the jobs they desperately need. Research shows that earned sick days save employers money because earned sick days far outweigh the costs of replacing workers including advertising for, interviewing, and training new employees. Additionally, presenteeism, when workers come to work sick, costs the national economy about $160 billion a year in lost productivity.
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The Healthy Families Act would:

• Allow workers in businesses with 15 or more employees to earn up to seven job protected paid sick days each year to be used to recover from their own illness, access preventive care, or provide care for a sick family member.
• Allow workers who are victims of domestic violence, stalking, or sexual assault to use their paid sick days to recover or seek assistance related to an incident.
• Include a simple method for calculating accrued sick time. Workers would earn a minimum of one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked, up to 56 hours (seven days) per year, unless the employer selects a higher limit.
• Allow employers to require certification if an employee uses more than three paid sick days in a row. For victims of domestic violence, the certification may be from a law enforcement officer or victim advocate.
• Allow employers to continue using their existing policies, as long as they meet the minimums set forth in the Healthy Families Act (for time, types of use, and method of use).

From our friends at Momsrising.org