| 3.23.22

Paid Sick Leave: Should Federal, State, And Private Sector Employers Have To Offer It? (H.R. 932)

Do you support or oppose this bill?

What is H.R. 932?

(Updated March 25, 2018)

Across federal, state, and private-sector employers, this legislation would require that all full-time employees receive at least seven days of paid sick leave. "Sick leave" would apply for employees who fall ill, doctors appointments, and missing work to care for a sick family member (children, parents, spouses/domestic partners).

Businesses with 15 or more employees would be required to give workers the opportunity to earn up to seven days of paid sick leave a year. People employed at businesses with less than 15 employees would under federal law be offered up to seven job-protected sick days.

The bill would also include a “safe days” provision — allowing workers to take paid sick leave to handle issues of domestic violence, stalking, or sexual assault. Funding through this bill would be allocated for outreach and education about the rights guaranteed in the bill.

Argument in favor

No one can predict when they're going to get sick, and workers shouldn’t have to choose between their job and their own health or their families’ health in times of sickness.

Argument opposed

Paid sick leave and similar mandates place an unfair burden on businesses, forcing them to sacrifice productivity and sales, which could lead to job losses and business closures.

Impact

Workers, families, parents with new children, caretakers, employers, and businesses.

Cost of H.R. 932

A CBO cost estimate is unavailable. However, an estimate of a previous version of the bill found that implementing this act would cost about $3 to $4 million per year.

Additional Info

In Depth:

If implemented, this bill would require the Commissioner of Labor Statistics to create a report every year on the use of paid sick leave. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) would also be directed to run a study on the use of paid sick leave within 18 months of this bill's passing.

For every 30 hours of work, employees could earn 1 hour of earned paid sick time. However, employers can put a cap on the number of hours an employee can earn on 56 hours. an employer chooses to up that ceiling.

Under this legislation, part-time workers would also get paid sick leave — but it would be less, proportional to how many hours they work.

Of Note:

Sponsoring Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-CT) has introduced this bill in every Congress since 2004. However, for the first time in that run of introductions, this bill has the explicit support of the Obama administration. As noted in press release before the 2015 State of the Union:

"A body of research shows that offering paid sick days and paid family leave can benefit employers by reducing turnover and increasing productivity. Paid sick days would help reduce lost productivity due to the spread of illness in the workplace. And these policies can benefit our economy by fostering a more productive workforce."

Opponents of paid sick leave generally come with arguments about economics. They note that employers know better than anyone else how to balance their budgets while offering benefits to their workers, and that paid sick leave should be left to individual businesses. As noted in a Wikipedia article on paid sick leave:

"A 2013 study by the Employment Policies Institute found that many businesses responded to a paid sick leave mandate in Connecticut by reducing paid leave, scaling back employee benefits, cutting back on hours, reducing wages, or raising prices. About 24% of employers that responded to the survey said they'd hire fewer employees as a consequence of the law and 10% admitted that the law had caused them to limit or restrict their expansion within the state."