California Paid Sick Days

Copyright

2008

Published Date

07/02/2008

Published By

Health Impact Project

The HIA addressed California Assembly Bill 2716: Healthy Families, Healthy Workplaces Act of 2008. The bill would have entitled an employee who works in California to accrue paid sick time at a rate of no less than one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked, up to nine days per year. An employee would be entitled to use accrued time for diagnosis, care, or treatment of health conditions of the employee or an employee’s family member, or for leave related to domestic violence or sexual assault. Some of the pathways and health issues explored included: 1) the spread of communicable diseases—such as influenza and stomach flu—through workers at restaurants, schools and nursing homes; and 2) impacts on income and stress levels due to loss of salary and employer retaliation for missing work. The HIA recommended the passage of the bill as a way to improve the health of all Californians and helped to reframe the policy debate to include health outcomes. For example, the chair of the California Assembly Labor Committee, referring specifically to the HIA, asked the bill’s opposition if they condoned the spread of disease through restaurant workers.

Outcome

The HIA received substantial press in California and nationally; ultimately, the bill did not pass.

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This Health Impact Assessment Report first appeared in The Cross-Sector Toolkit for Health. The Cross-Sector Toolkit for Health was originally developed by the Health Impact Project, formerly a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts. The creation of this resource was supported by a grant from the Health Impact Project. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Pew Charitable Trusts, or the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.