Plan B Forum

The stark disparities of paid leave: The rich get to heal. The poor get fired.
By Danielle Paquette January 16 at 2:40 PM

Obama announced his legislation proposal to offer paid sick leave to all Americans. (Larry Downing/Reuters)

President Obama’s push for paid leave this week highlights a glaring disparity in the American workforce: Time off is often feasible for the relatively well-off -- but low-wage earners, who need each paycheck to stay financially afloat, just don’t have that option.

About 43 million American workers have no paid sick leave, according to White House figures. High wage earners tend to receive the benefits through employers, according to a recent survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Access depends on occupation, the Post’s Chris Ingraham noted: 88-percent of private sector managers and financial workers enjoy the benefit, more than double the rate among service workers (40-percent) and construction workers (38-percent).

So, they keep working, through pregnancies and family deaths and the flu, afraid of losing their jobs -- or simply eight hours of pay, said Ellen Bravo, executive director of the advocacy group Family Values at Work. Parental leave, she said, is regarded an out-of-reach luxury.

“Those who most need it -- but can least afford it -- are in the most difficult position to take it,” Bravo said. “For them, what should be a joyous occasion of having a baby -- or a process of recovering for a few days -- becomes this period of falling into poverty, debt, bankruptcy…”

Obama's proposal seeks to change that, starting with the public sector: Federal workers can now take an advance of up to six weeks of sick leave to care for a new child or ailing relative, the president announced Thursday. They can also annually earn up to seven paid sick days.

Meanwhile, the White House is urging Congress to mandate paid sick leave in the United States. The administration also proposes using more than $2 billion in new funds to encourage states to develop their own paid family and medical leave programs. The Department of Labor will offer $1 million helps local governments conduct feasibility studies.

Today, only three states provide paid family leave: California, New Jersey and Rhode Island all offer four to six weeks of the benefits, financed through Temporary Disability Insurance programs. A handful are pushing mandatory compensation for sick days.

Gayle Goldin, a Rhode Island state senator who sponsored paid family leave legislation, said the benefit reduces a particularly cruel form of inequality -- and a drag on local economies. ... "