Momentum for Paid Sick Days Builds as Jersey City Passes New Requirements
Jersey City, N.J., became the sixth city to require paid sick days for employees at private businesses after the City Council passed the new rules on a 7–1 vote. Mayor Steven Fulop (D) is a supporter of the measure and is expected to sign it into law.
"Paid sick leave will help working families in Jersey City so they won't have to choose between missing a day of work and caring for their own health or that of a family member," Fulop said.
The second largest city in New Jersey will join San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Ore., Washington, D.C., and New York City in requiring paid sick days. The state of Connecticut also has a similar requirement. The Jersey City rule would require that any business with 10 or more employees be allowed to earn up to five paid sick days a year and smaller businesses have to allow their employees to earn up to 40 hours of unpaid sick time. The measure is expected to impact about 30,000 private-sector employees.
Opponents of the measure trotted out the same tired lines against paid sick days, but the evidence is pretty clear that those claims are inaccurate. From Think Progress :
Paid sick leave is valuable both to workers and to employers. Providing the benefit is good for employee retention , and giving people time off when they’re sick prevents the spread of germs that ultimately reduce worker productivity overall. Having workers come in sick costs businesses an average of $225 a year . The policy is also a huge boon to women, particularly single mothers , who need to take time off to care for a sick child but can’t afford to lose the pay. Forty percent of private-sector workers—and a whopping 80 percent of low-income workers —currently have no paid sick leave.
