Valuing good health in Massachusetts the costs and benefits of paid sick days

Valuing good health in Massachusetts: the costs and benefits of paid sick days. Executive Summary   Policymakers across the country are increasingly interested in  ensuring that workers can take paid time off when they are sick. In addition to concerns about workers' ability to respond to their own  health needs, there is growing recognition that, with so many  dual-earner and single-parent families, family members' health  needs can only be addressed by workers taking a break from their  scheduled time on the job. Allowing workers with contagious illness to avoid unnecessary contact with co-workers and customers is a public  health issue. Paid sick days also protect workers from being fired when they are too sick to work and offer substantial savings to employers by  reducing turnover and minimizing absenteeism. Legislators in Massachusetts are considering An Act Establishing Earned Paid Sick Time HB 3995, allowing employees to earn sick time at  the rate of one hour for every thirty hours worked. Using the parameters of the proposed law and publicly available data, this paper estimates  the anticipated costs and some of the anticipated benefits of the law  for employers providing new leave, as well as some of the benefits for  employees. This report uses data collected by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the  Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and the U.S. Census Bureau to  evaluate the likely impact of the Massachusetts Act Establishing Earned  Paid Sick Time. The study is one of a series of analyses by the Institute for Women's Policy Research IWPR examining the costs  and benefits of paid sick days policies. It estimates how much time off Massachusetts workers would use under the proposed policy and the costs  to employers for that sick time. It also uses findings from previous peer-reviewed research to estimate how this leave policy would save  money, by reducing turnover, cutting down on the spread of disease at  work, helping employers avoid paying for low productivity, holding down  nursing-home stays, and reducing norovirus outbreaks in nursing homes. The report finds significant economic benefits from the proposed sick time bill and there are likely to be many other meaningful benefits  that cannot be measured with existing data. When workers can take needed time off without fear of being fired, they and their families can obtain  necessary health care more promptly, leading to improved health  outcomes, speedier recoveries, and reduced total health care spending. Fewer workers will be fired, suspended, or otherwise penalized for having to stay home when they are ill or have sick family members to  care for, improving workers' economic security. The public health benefits are also likely to be considerable, as workers with contagious  illnesses will be better able to avoid infecting others, and parents  will not have to send sick children to school or child care. Key provisions of the Act Establishing Earned Paid Sick Time   * All workers employed within the boundaries of Massachusetts  except seasonal workers would accrue sick time. Workers at businesses with 11 or more employees would accrue paid sick time up to a maximum of  56 hours seven days per year, and businesses with between six and ten  employees would accrue paid sick time up to a maximum of 40 hours five  days per year; at businesses with between one and five employees,  employees would accrue up to 40 hours five days of unpaid sick time  per year. 1   * Earned paid sick time may be used when a worker is ill, for  diagnosis or treatment of a worker's or child's health  condition, for preventive care, or to address the effects of domestic  violence. Who Will Access and Use Paid Sick Days? * About 910,000 Massachusetts workers lack paid sick days--36 percent of the private sector workforce. About 581,000 workers in Massachusetts currently have no paid leave benefits of any kind and are  eligible to receive new leave under An Act Establishing Earned Paid Sick  Time, of whom 531,000 will receive paid leave and 50,000 will receive  unpaid leave. * Employees of Massachusetts businesses with eleven or more employees are estimated to use an average of 2.5 days annually out of a  maximum of seven that may be accrued, while employees at businesses with  between six to ten employees are estimated to use an average of 2.1 days  annually out of a maximum of 5 that may be accrued. ** Workers covered by the earned paid sick time law will use an average of 1.6 days of paid sick time annually for their own medical  needs. ** On average, workers will use about half a day to address family members' medical needs and about half a day for doctor visits. ** Workers utilizing earned paid sick time after they or their partner give birth to a child are expected to utilize all seven or five  sick days available to them, as are those workers utilizing leave to  addres  Find out more on  payday loan