Millions of American workers still have to choose between going to work while sick or staying home without pay and risking being laid off, putting them at risk to their health.
- Lack of paid sick leave can increase the risk of suicide, drug use and other risky behaviors.
- It also endangers healthy colleagues by exposing them to sick colleagues.
Paid sick leave could save the lives of Americans… This is the conclusion of a study published in theAmerican Journal of Preventive Medicine.
6% increase
According to researchers at Syracuse University in New York State, access to paid sick leave is linked to lower death rates among American men and women of work.
However, the United States remains one of the few developed countries that does not have a national policy on paid sick leave and there is an increase in mortality among adults working in the United States (up 6% between 2010 and 2017).
Reduce mortality
By analyzing data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) on deaths among adults aged 25 to 64 from 1999 to 2019, scientists found that laws requiring employers providing paid sick leave are effective in reducing mortality from suicide and homicide in men and from homicide and alcohol-related causes in women.
According to their work, each additional hour of mandatory paid sick leave is associated with a significant reduction in mortality from suicide and homicide in men, and from alcohol-related homicide and death in women.
The researchers calculated that mortality among their working-age population would have been 7.5% lower in the four counties (Orange County in Florida and Bexar, Dallas, and Travis counties in Texas) that tried to impose paid holidays, but who saw their State react by removing their power to do so by laws of “pre-emption”.
40 hours per year
“State pre-emption laws that protect profits rather than people may shorten the lives of working-age Americans“said author Jennifer Karas Montez, Ph.D. Aging Studies Institute and Center for Aging and Policy Studies and Department of Sociology from Syracuse University.
“We project that mortality could potentially decrease by more than 5% in large central metropolitan counties currently restricted by laws if they were able to mandate paid sick leave of 40 hours per year.” she concluded.
In France, thedaily sickness benefit is paid for up to 360 days spread over three years and 38% of employees benefited from sick leave in 2021.
