Noted.

SICK DAYS: With hundreds of schools closed because of the H1N1 flu virus, parents across the nation have found themselves in a bind. Most parents work--just three children in ten have a stay-at-home parent--and many do not have the right to paid sick days. This includes nearly half of all workers--59 million people--and 86 percent of food service workers. Workers without job-protected paid sick days know that taking time off could put their jobs at risk--and that's not a risk many can afford to take in this dismal economic climate. Yet we keep hearing that if people don't feel well, they shouldn't go out and potentially give others H1N1.

In the immediate wake of the swine flu outbreak, President Obama was slow to acknowledge this problem, and he only requested that parents and businesses think about "contingency plans" if kids get sick and must stay home. Then on May 2, in his weekly address, he urged employers to "allow infected employees to take as many sick days as necessary." It is hoped that employers will do the right thing and pay workers who are out sick as a result of the flu. But there's no penalty for those who choose not to pay workers in this situation, or for those who refuse workers any time off at all.

That's why the Obama administration and Congress should go beyond encouraging words and require employers to provide job-protected paid sick days. A good place to start is the Healthy Families Act. Representative Rosa DeLauro plans to reintroduce this legislation in May. The bill would guarantee that workers can earn up to seven paid sick days a year to recover from an illness or care for a sick family member. That's the kind of response this incipient pandemic calls for.   HEATHER BOUSHEY

Subscriber Login

User Name

Password

Subscribe Now!

The only way to read this article and the full contents of each week's issue of The Nation online is by subscribing to the magazine. Subscribe now and read this article -- and every article published since for the past five years -- right now.

There's no obligation -- try The Nation for four weeks free.

• Get The Nation at home (and online!) for 68 cents a week!
• If you like this article, consider making a donation to The Nation.
• Reprint this article. Click here for rights and information.