Sniffling, sneezing and Turning Cubicles into Sick Bays
Dec 26, 2006
New York Times
Excerpts (emphasis added)
Ailing employees are dragging themselves to work in increasing numbers, according to several studies. So widespread is the phenomenon that experts have invented a name, calling it presenteeism, the opposite of absenteeism.
Only half of workers in the United States earn paid sick days, and only one-third receive paid time to care for sick children, according to a recent report by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. The situation for low-wage and part-time workers is particularly acute. Only 23 percent of the lowest paid workers have paid sick days, the institute found; among restaurant workers, the figure is closer to 14 percent. Many risk losing their jobs should they take any sick time at all.
“These are often workers with a lot of public contact,” said Dr. Lovell, who wrote the report. “They are the retail clerks who ring up your purchase and people serving food at restaurants.”
In Congress, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Representative Rosa DeLauro, Democrat of Connecticut, have announced plans to reintroduce the Healthy Families Act, which would require employers with 15 or more workers to offer at least seven days of paid sick leave each year. “It will make a major difference in the lives of working families,” Ms. DeLauro said.
Also noted: Phenomenon being studied by Dr. Cheryl Koopman, psychiatry, Stanford.
(photo credit: dogfaceboy )
technorati tags:Healthyfamilies, sickleave, presenteeism, koopman, flu, influenza, transmission, contagion, spread, security, homelandsecurity
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