Millions of American workers have no paid sick leave (sick leave), may be an impossible choice if they suspect that infected by coronavirus: health or livelihood.
Concern that workers who can’t afford to stay home will accelerate the spread of the virus, expressed to journalists on Monday, Vice-President Mike Pence.
Center for control and prevention of diseases recommended that employers «provide flexibility policy sick leave».
According to the Bureau of labor statistics, more than 32 million Americans have no paid sick days. 7 out of 10 low-wage workers do not receive paid sick leave.
Some American workers do not have the opportunity to take unpaid sick leave because they can lose the position.
«I can’t afford to take the day off if you’re sick,» he said through an interpreter Maurilia Arellanes, an employee of McDonald’s from California.
McDonald’s said that the policy in relation to sick leave in the company is different, but many of the franchise restaurants in the US offer up to five days paid sick leave per year. On Tuesday, McDonald’s in the USA announced that it would pay employees their restaurants, which will be placed in quarantine for up to 14 days.
According to Nicholas Zibart, associate Professor of Economics at Cornell University, mandatory sick leave in individual States and cities significantly reduces the risk of transmission of influenza. Other studies have shown that paid sick leave does not reduce the wages or number of jobs.
«In this situation, it is important that people who have symptoms and are feeling ill, did not go to work and not spread the disease, it will give professionals the time to develop a vaccine,» he added Zibart.
Walmart and Sam’s Club has introduced a new policy of term sick leave, which gives employees who are quarantined for up to two weeks of payment. If an employee with a confirmed case will not be able to return to work after two weeks, may be granted additional leave to 26 weeks.
King County in Washington state, most affected by coronavirus, encouraged residents to work from home. Employees of large corporations, from Amazon to Google — were given the green light to work remotely.
However, tens of thousands of workers who deliver hot meals and food or carry passengers are at much greater risk of contact with people infected with the virus, but classified by employers as independent contractors, they do not have the benefits of health services in contrast to the «white collar».
Uber already said that they will reimburse drivers up to 14 days of payment if they are diagnosed with COVID-19 or if they will be quarantined. Lyft will do the same for an indefinite period of time.
Delivery service Instacart and Postmates implement the delivery of «no contact», and the company DoorDash announced that customers can add the user to your mobile app so that drivers could leave orders at the door.
