Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Marie A. de Perio, Anup Srivastav, Hilda Razzaghi, A. Scott Laney, Carla L. Black
Summary: In April 2022, 73.2% of responding healthcare personnel reported having paid sick leave, similar to estimates in 2020 and 2021. The percentage of healthcare personnel with paid sick leave varied by occupation, work setting, and type of employment. Increasing healthcare personnel's access to paid sick leave may decrease the transmission of infectious diseases in healthcare settings.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PREVENTIVE MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Jennifer L. Pomeranz, Diana Silver, Sarah A. Lieff, Jose A. Pagan
Summary: Paid sick leave is associated with lower mortality risks and increased use of health services. However, the U.S. lacks a national law and not all employers offer paid leave, especially to low-wage workers. States have enacted paid sick-leave laws or preemption laws, leading to regulatory gaps in certain states. This creates substantial inequities nationally. A national paid sick-leave law should be enacted by the federal government.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PREVENTIVE MEDICINE
(2022)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Kristen Harknett, Daniel Schneider
Summary: Paid sick leave in the United States is limited and unequal, with women less likely to have access compared to men. Gender segregation in industries and part-time employment partially explain the disparity. However, mandating paid sick leave eliminates the gender gap. Providing paid sick leave to all workers would benefit workers, employers, and public health, while reducing gender inequality.
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Meredith Slopen
Summary: The United States lacks a national program for job-protected paid leave, leading to disparities in access to paid sick leave (PSL), particularly for certain groups. To address this, some states have implemented laws mandating employers to provide PSL. This study examines the impact of these policies on women's health and finds that PSL mandates decrease the proportion of women reporting fair or poor health and reduce the number of days of poor physical and mental health. The effects are more pronounced among specific groups such as parents, women without college degrees, and women of color.
SOCIAL SCIENCE & MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Thomas A. Hegland, Terceira A. Berdahl
Summary: This study explored the impact of job flexibility and access to paid sick leave on health care access and use. The results showed that increasing job flexibility and having access to paid sick leave can improve the likelihood of having office-based health care visits and a usual source of care.
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Alina S. Schnake-Mahl, Gabriella O'Leary, Pricila H. Mullachery, Alexandra Skinner, Jennifer Kolker, Ana V. Diez Roux, Julia R. Raifman, Usama Bilal
Summary: The study found that paid sick leave policies are associated with higher COVID-19 vaccination coverage and narrower coverage disparities. The association between paid sick leave and vaccination is stronger in socially vulnerable neighborhoods.
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
N. Kerman, J. Ecker, E. Tiderington, S. Gaetz, S. A. Kidd
Summary: The study found that the majority of service providers working with people experiencing homelessness have some amount of paid sick leave benefits, but there is a subset of younger individuals working part-time in the sector who do not have this benefit. It is recommended to temporarily expand paid sick leave benefits and remove waiting periods for new employees to qualify for benefits.
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Carrie Henning-Smith, Janette Dill, Arianne Baldomero, Katy Backes Kozhimannil
Summary: This study finds that full-time workers in rural areas have less access to paid sick leave compared to those in urban areas. This disparity may lead to rural workers going to work while contagious or foregoing necessary healthcare. Despite adjusting for certain factors, the difference between rural and urban residents in access to paid sick leave remains significant.
JOURNAL OF RURAL HEALTH
(2023)
Article
Economics
Stefan Pichler, Katherine Wen, Nicolas R. Ziebarth
Summary: This study provides quasi-experimental evidence that mandating employee access to paid sick leave has causally reduced doctor-certified influenza-like-illness rates in the US, with an average reduction of 11% in the first year.
JOURNAL OF POLICY ANALYSIS AND MANAGEMENT
(2021)
Article
Oncology
Zhiyuan Zheng, Stacey A. Fedewa, Farhad Islami, Leticia Nogueira, Xuesong Han, Jingxuan Zhao, Weishan Song, Ahmedin Jemal, K. Robin Yabroff
Summary: More than one-third of working cancer survivors in the United States lack paid sick leave, especially those working in the food/agriculture/construction/personal services industries. Survivors with lower household income, lower educational attainment, no health insurance, self-employment, part-time work, or working in small businesses are most likely to lack paid sick leave. The lack of paid sick leave is associated with lower use of preventive services.
JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL COMPREHENSIVE CANCER NETWORK
(2022)
Article
Health Policy & Services
Parth Patel, Sarah Beale, Vincent Nguyen, Isobel Braithwaite, Thomas E. Byrne, Wing Lam Fong, Ellen Fragaszy, Cyril Geismar, Susan Hoskins, Annalan M. D. Navaratnam, Madhumita Shrotri, Jana Kovar, Anna Aryee, Andrew C. Hayward, Robert W. Aldridge
Summary: This study found that only 66% of workers in England and Wales have access to sick pay. South Asian workers, workers from other minority ethnic backgrounds, older workers, workers from low-income households, and those in transportation, trade, and service occupations are more likely to lack access to sick pay. This suggests the existence of unfairness in the labor market, and policymakers should consider expanding sick pay coverage.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HEALTH PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Ethics
Mark A. A. Rothstein, Dov Fox
Summary: A key measure to promote public health during the Covid-19 pandemic is paid sick leave policies, which encourage individuals at risk of spreading the disease to stay home. Unlike other developed countries, the United States lacks federal-level guarantee of paid sick leave, resulting in inadequate support from state and private policies for those in need, while providing disproportionate protection for high-wage earners. However, other countries have proven that mandated sick leave is beneficial for both employers and employees. It reduces healthcare costs by decreasing the likelihood of infecting coworkers, reducing the length of employee absences, and minimizing the need for expensive hospital treatments. National guaranteed sick leave is urgently required to prioritize public health.
HASTINGS CENTER REPORT
(2023)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Chanup Jeung, Kyung Min Lee, Gilbert W. Gimm
Summary: This study examined the impact of Connecticut's paid sick leave law on the use of preventive services, finding that the implementation of the law resulted in an increase in the utilization of preventive services. This highlights the potential for state-paid sick leave laws to improve public health by encouraging the use of preventive care services among workers.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PREVENTIVE MEDICINE
(2021)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Daniel Schneider, Kristen Harknett, Elmer Vivas-Portillo
Summary: The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the lack of paid sick leave for service-sector workers in the US, with limited literature on the effects of paid sick leave expansion. Through a case study on Olive Garden, it was found that expanding paid sick leave can significantly reduce the incidence of working while sick among frontline food service workers.
Review
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Rashmi Lamsal, Krishtee Napit, Adam B. Rosen, Fernando A. Wilson
Summary: The research shows that individuals with paid sick leave are more likely to utilize healthcare services such as flu vaccination, mammograms, doctor visits, and Pap tests compared to those without paid sick leave. However, there is significant heterogeneity across most services. Further studies are needed to continue monitoring these outcomes.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PREVENTIVE MEDICINE
(2021)