A Back to School Call to Action
Fall can be a challenging time for any working parent. Summer is over. Kids are headed back to school – and flu season is around the corner. When a child starts coughing and sneezing or spikes a fever, many parents are filled with dread. But for parents whose jobs do not offer paid sick days, these fears are compounded by worries about how they will care for a sick child and make ends meet. That’s why this is also a good time of year toraise awareness about the need for a common sense paid sick days standard in this country.
More than 44 million workers in the United States are in jobs that don’t provide paid sick days to deal with their own illnesses. Millions more don’t have paid sick time they can use to care for a child. This is despite ample evidence demonstrating the many ways parental access to paid sick days improves the long-term physical and academic health of children – and, conversely, the very real threat the lack of access to paid sick days poses to the health of our children, our schools and our communities. It’s an issue that affects all children and parents.
Caring parents want to protect their children’s health by staying home to speed their recovery and making sure
