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Macomb, IL – In Monmouth and Macomb, Pekin and Kewanee, Canton and Galesburg, and points between thousands of workers face tough choices when they're sick. Employees in such rural areas have less access to sick leave, forcing them to choose between caring for themselves or family members, and losing pay or perhaps even their jobs, according to a study from the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire.
Too many companies excuse not providing paid sick leave with insults or attacks on their own labor force, claiming that they'd abuse the benefit.
Hogwash. I used to work at a newspaper whose union contract provided for 26 weeks of paid sick leave (yes, weeks, not days), and out of 140 or so in our bargaining unit, there were two malingerers who exploited the benefit - earning the disrespect of co-workers as well as management. Many shouldn't suffer because a few seem to always take advantage.
Kristin Smith of the Carsey Institute and a sociology professor, says, "Paid sick days are a central component of job flexibility for rural and urban workers alike. Everyone gets sick, and the lack of paid sick days can place workers in a bind, especially given that workers who lack paid sick days are also more likely to lack other paid leave options, such as vacation days."
Smith and Carsey researcher Andrew Schaefer found that 44% of rural workers lack access to paid sick days. In contrast, 34% of suburban and 38% of central-city workers have fewer than five paid sick days each year.
Likewise, a higher proportion of rural than urban working parents lacks access to at least five days off to care for a sick kid without losing pay or having to use vacation time.
Besides the lousy choice of sacrificing pay or putting their jobs at risk when they're sick, too many people come to work sick, jeopardizing co-workers and customers.
Smith adds, "The lack of paid sick time disproportionately affects rural workers. The rural disadvantage is particularly pronounced among rural private-sector workers and part-time workers, but even rural full-time workers have less access to paid sick days than their urban counterparts. Increasing access to paid sick days for all workers could go a long way to help workers balance their work and family responsibilities."
In Congress, US Representative Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat, introduced the Healthy Families Act in May, requiring employers with 15 or more workers to provide a modest amount of paid sick leave - up to seven days.
The bill, which also was introduced in 2007, would have workers at covered employers "earn" paid sick days annually at the rate of one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked.
Workers could use the days for their own illness or to care for sick children or parents. Also, the leave could be used to visit a health care provider for preventive care, or for a few other reasonable causes.
The bill would let companies require that workers absent for more than three consecutive days provide some certification explaining their absence.
Although DeLauro's bill has 91 co-sponsors, including six Illinois Democrats, and has a companion bill in the Senate sponsored by US Senator Tom Harkin, the Iowa Democrat, and 19 co-sponsors, it's in a House of Representatives controlled by Republicans and influenced by the Tea Party. So for two months it's been stuck in the Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, US Postal Service and Labor Policy.
It's not just rural workers, of course. All US workers are underappreciated compared to 21 other industrialized countries, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
Examining laws and policies related to sick leave, their recent report found that the United States and Japan are the only countries of the 22 considered that don't provide short-term paid sick leave to workers. All of the countries, except for the United States, provide long-term paid sick leave for those with serious illnesses.
But rural workers are especially hard hit.
Ellen Bravo, executive director of the Family Values @ Work Consortium, a network of state coalitions, says, "Many of these workers are supplementing lagging farm income with jobs that pay too little and lack basic workplace protections. Caring for their own health or that of a loved one should not cost rural workers a paycheck or a job."
Bill Knight is a freelance writer who teaches at Western Illinois University. The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of WIU or Tri States Public Radio.