Quick Facts

Need a quick primer on paid sick days? Let us break it down for you.

The Urgent Need for Paid Sick Days

Nearly one in three private sector workers — and seven out of 10 of low-wage workers — do not have paid sick days to care for their own health. That means that more than 37 million workers have no access to paid sick days at all, and millions more cannot earn paid sick time to use to care for a sick child or family member.
On the state level, the percentage of workers without paid sick days varies widely, from a high of 49.7 percent in New Mexico to a low of 38.9 percent in New Hampshire, according to an analysis of states that have not adopted any state or municipal paid sick days laws.
Working people without paid sick days are 1.5 times more likely than those with paid sick days to report going to work with contagious illnesses like the flu or a viral infection — and risk infecting others. More than four in five restaurant workers (81 percent) don’t have a single paid sick day — and three-fourths of personal care and service workers, including child care workers, lack paid sick days. The threat to public health is clear.
Working people without paid sick days are three times more likely to go without medical care for themselves and 1.6 times more likely to go without medical care for their families compared to working people with paid sick days. Lack of paid sick days is also a barrier to receiving cancer screenings and preventive care.
More than half (54 percent) of Latinx workers — including 55 percent of men and 51 percent of women – are unable to earn a single paid sick day.
Thirty-eight percent of Black workers — more than seven million people — have no access to paid sick days.

The Benefits of Paid Sick Days

Paid sick day laws are associated with reduced flu rates in the jurisdictions they cover. When workers gained access to paid sick days through paid sick days laws, the general flu rate in the population decreased by 5.5 to 6.5 percent, helping prevent about 100 influenza-like infections per week for every 100,000 people.
Paid sick days reduce costly spending on emergency health care services. If all workers had paid sick days in the United States, health care costs associated with emergency room use would be reduced by $1.1 billion each year, with $517 million in savings going to taxpayer-funded health insurance programs.
Paid sick days save employers money by reducing turnover. The cost of replacing workers, including advertising for positions, interviewing, and training replacements, are greater than the cost of providing paid sick time to retain existing workers.
If workers were offered seven paid sick days a year, our national economy would experience a net savings of $160 billion a year in 2002 dollars, or $214 billion in 2017 dollars after adjusting for inflation, due to increased productivity and reduced turnover.
Paid sick and safe days would protect the paychecks and jobs of survivors of domestic violence, stalking or sexual assault when they need time away from their jobs to seek care, services, safety and assistance.
Paid sick days help family caregivers manage both their caregiving responsibilities and the jobs they need to support their families. Forty-three million adults in the United States are unpaid caregivers for family members — and six in 10 report working at jobs unrelated to their care responsibilities.

The U.S. Public Strongly Supports Paid Sick Days

Public demand and legislative victories have inspired employers and lawmakers to better understand and adopt paid sick days policies. More than 33 million private sector workers are now legally protected by paid sick days laws. And since 2015, the period in which most paid sick days laws have taken effect, national access to paid sick days has increased by seven percentage points.