SHESPEAKS Your Power to Influence

This year’s flu is hitting us earlier and harder than ever, but many of us who wake up feeling achy and feverish also feel that calling in sick is not an option. Paid sick leave is a luxury that many Americans don’t have and this year’s unusually strong flu is drawing attention to this very fact.

CBS News reports, about the debate over paid sick time laws and how this year’s flu outbreak is being injected into the conversation. About a third of civilian workers (more than 40 million people) do not have paid sick leave, so it makes sense that so many people feel that staying home when they are very sick would put too much of a financial burden on their family.

In fact, those without paid sick leave are far more likely to go to work with a contagious illness and send their children to daycare or school with something catchy. A 2011 study published in the American Journal of Public Health estimated that people who went to work or school because of unpaid sick leave were responsible for spreading 5 million cases of the swine flu in 2009.

Bars and restaurants are among the most notorious industries that do not provide paid sick leave for their employees. You can imagine how easily a flu can spread when someone seriously ill is serving food at a restaurant. But restaurant owners often feel they are stretched as it is and cannot afford to make allowances for paid sick leave.

Have you had to miss work this year due to the flu?

Do you think all business owners should be required to provide a certain amount of paid sick leave for their workers?