Opinion: Paid sick days vital for public health

By Sara Gagliardi, LPN

Posted October 11, 2011

As an oncology nurse, I know firsthand why paid sick days are needed. It is my responsibility to care for cancer patients fighting to regain or stabilize their health. Many are immuno-compromised due to chemotherapy and radiation, so the last thing they need is to be exposed to a contagious disease. Unfortunately, a lack of paid sick days among employees working with the public every day puts them – and all of us – at risk.

Many of the workers without paid sick time work in restaurants, child care centers, nursing homes and home-health services, placing cancer patients in direct contact with the public. In fact, over 107,000 Denver employees – 41 percent of all workers and 74 percent of food service workers – have no paid sick days at their workplace. My patients and others vulnerable to contagious illness simply cannot afford to be exposed to the flu, norovirus and other contagious illnesses through workers in public places. Frankly, the health of customers and co-workers shouldn’t be put in jeopardy because businesses are not putting this basic workplace protection in place.

Initiative 300, which would allow all Denver workers to earn paid sick days, is on the municipal mail-in ballot this year. Ballots will start arriving this week and are due by 7 p.m. Nov. 1.  Passing I-300 will help keep sick people at home and out of the workplace where they can spread illnesses to co-workers, customers and clients. Employees will earn one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked; small businesses may cap sick leave hours at 40 total for a year. This measure will ensure that workers can take time off to recover from their own illness, care for a sick child or family member or seek medical care.

The reality is that without paid sick leave, many workers come to work sick rather than giving up a day’s wages or in some cases, their jobs. A November 2010 survey showed that 13 percent of Denver workers report they or a family member has been fired or disciplined for taking time off to recover from illness, care for a sick child or seek medical attention. With jobs on the line, workers don’t call in sick when they’re ill, and the result is increased illnesses and higher rates of infection for us all.

 Most of us are shocked to learn that many workers in nursing homes, long-term care centers and home health care services don’t have access to paid sick days, creating unsafe conditions for vulnerable patients and the elderly. One study found that patients in nursing homes where the staff had paid sick days were approximately 60 percent less likely than patients in nursing homes where the staff did not have paid sick days to acquire respiratory or gastrointestinal infections, controlling for other factors.  So far this year, 18 out of the 19 disease outbreaks in Denver have been in long-term care and assisted living facilities.  While it’s not clear if there is a direct link to every outbreak, sick employees reporting for work certainly don’t help.

Last year, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reported 24 Denver disease outbreaks last year, and increase in the last decade.  Five of those were in “food establishments.” According to a Public Health Directors of Colorado position paper,  the Tri-County Health Department investigated an outbreak of norovirus at a local restaurant in the nearby suburbs. Originating with one sick worker, the outbreak sickened 30 percent of the restaurant’s employees as well as a number of patrons, resulting in at least three emergency room visits. It was costly, too. The restaurant and workers lost 1.5 days of revenue and pay, not to mention the long-term financial impact to their business and to the customers that got sick. No one wants to think about catching the stomach flu from a nice night out at our favorite restaurant.

Believe it or not, paid sick days affect child health, as well. Tens of thousands of school children come to school sick at some point because their parents are unable to take time off to stay at home with them.  Both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/CDC advise parents to keep sick children at home and away from other children to prevent the spread of disease. Sick kids should be able to stay at home, where they can get well without exposing classmates, caretakers or teachers to illness. Paid sick days will help ensure that Denver workers – and parents – don’t have to choose between being a good parent or a good employee.

Allowing people to stay home when they have a contagious illness makes sense. During the H1N1 outbreak, 7 million Americans caught the flu from co-workers, in part because so many hard-working people were without paid sick days. That just doesn’t make sense from a public health or a even business point of view.  How many companies’ productivity came to a halt during that flu outbreak?

Whether it’s my cancer patients, my own family members or all the citizens of Denver, I don’t want anyone to be exposed to contagious disease due to a lack of paid sick days.  It’s time for Denver to join Seattle, Milwaukee, San Francisco, Washington, D.C, and other cities that have passed laws guaranteeing paid sick days to protect public health. I urge a “yes” vote on Initiative 300 on Nov. 1. 

Sara Gagliardi, LPN, is an oncology nurse in Denver and is a former lawmaker who represented Arvada in the Colorado House of Representatives.

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