Washington , D.C. Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (D-CT) hosted a rally in support of paid sick leave.  Later this week, Kennedy and DeLauro will introduce their bicameral legislation, the Health Families Act, which would provide paid sick days to millions of Americans, so American workers would no longer have to choose between their health, their familys health and their jobs.  Kennedy and DeLauro were joined by hundreds of advocates concerned workers and parents who are in the Capitol on a tissue campaign to garner support behind the bill.  

Each of us has had to miss days of work because of illness.  Every parent knows what its like to care for a sick child.  Yet, every day, millions of Americans find their paychecks or even their jobs at risk when illness strikes. 57 million Americansnearly fifty percent of all private-sector workers in the United States dont have paid sick days.  They cant take a day off to recover from the flu.  They cant leave work to care for a child who is running a fever, Senator Kennedy said.  If we truly care about families, we have to change those facts.  We need workplace laws that enable working men and women to be the responsible parents they want to be.

Paid sick leave is a basic right of people in the workplace and the price paid for denying employees paid sick leave is felt by all of us.  The parent working in the health care or food industry who goes to work sick and infects the entire office the working mothers fear that their colleagues will not understand when they miss work that their job evaluation will suffer as a result of their absence and you start to understand what this legislation could mean to them peace of mind, stated Congresswoman DeLauro. We have all experienced the strain of trying to balance family and work and the Healthy Families Act will give millions of people middle class families who are working hard to make ends meet a small modicum of relief. 

Even though Americans strongly support paid sick days, almost half of private-sector workers are denied paid sick days and of the lowest quarter of wage earners, 79% have no paid sick days at all.  The Healthy Families Act would require employers with 15 or more employees to provide seven paid sick days to care for their own and their families medical needs, benefiting 66 million Americans: 46 million would gain access to paid sick days; 19 million would gain paid sick days for leave for doctors visits and family care; and 1 million Americans would gain additional paid sick days.

Also speaking at the press conference were Debra Ness, President of the National Partnership of Women and Families, Carolyn Duff, a school nurse from South Carolina and member of the Executive Committee of the National Association of School Nurses. They were also joined by workers who lack paid sick days, including Bertha Brown, a home healthcare aide.

FACT SHEET: Why Working Families Deserve Paid Sick Days

The Healthy Families Act would guarantee workers seven paid sick days a year.  This would benefit 66 million Americans: 46 million would gain access to paid sick days; 19 million would gain paid sick days for leave for doctors visits and family care; and 1 million Americans would gain additional paid sick days.

Americans strongly support paid sick days.  The vast majority of Americans believe that working men and women deserve time off to balance their work responsibilities with their own, and their families medical needs.  Unfortunately, too often the reality for American workers falls short of our rhetoric about family values.