Sign the petition today!
H1N1 flu (Swine flu), is reported in every U.S. State, closing schools, businesses, and infecting thousands1. Public Health officials expect flu infections to rise again in the fall, and recommend that: "If you're sick, stay home, get treatment, go see a doctor."2
This is easier said than done. In the U.S. today, almost half of workers aren't allowed to earn a single paid sick day.3 How do the experts expect people to stay home when they're sick, if they can't earn any paid sick days? In fact, a just released employer preparedness plan from the CDC lists asks businesses to: "Consider ways to allow sick employees to stay home without fear of losing their jobs."4
Sign the petition today to to tell our country's leaders:
The United States needs to allow all working people to earn paid sick days to ensure our economic security, and protect public health.
*image credit: New York Times
0-25 of 34607 signatures
| Number | Date | Name | Would/do sick days help you? Have you been fired for taking a sick day? Tell us about it. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 34607 | February 07, 2010 | Anonymous | |
| 34606 | February 07, 2010 | Bre Giffin | I'm lucky to have ample sick days, but I especially worry about day care workers / elder care workers not being adequately compensated for them. |
| 34605 | February 04, 2010 | Shauna Bagin | |
| 34604 | February 04, 2010 | Anonymous | My husband was working at a non-profit organization as a family counselor and had to take a day off since he had a high fever the night before going to wor, and was still high the next day. He missed work and got written up for it plus he did not get the paid sick day even though he had already earned 6 paid six days according to the company's policie. It was the first time he had called in sick. He was not the only employee that had suffered from this type of abuse. |
| 34603 | February 03, 2010 | Anonymous | |
| 34602 | February 01, 2010 | Anonymous | |
| 34601 | January 31, 2010 | Anonymous | |
| 34600 | January 30, 2010 | Shirley Lamont | |
| 34599 | January 27, 2010 | Anonymous | I currently recieve sick days. I would like for this oppotunity to be availble for working parents. A working parent should never put in position to choose between providing for their family and not care for herself or children when tehy are ill. Nobosy should be afreaid to loose their job because of being ill or taking care of an ill children. |
| 34598 | January 26, 2010 | Anonymous | |
| 34597 | January 23, 2010 | Megan Lagasse | |
| 34596 | January 23, 2010 | Megan Lagasse | |
| 34595 | January 22, 2010 | Anonymous | I work for Wal-Mart. I am currently on a write up for missing work because of me or my kids being sick. I just got a 1 point back on the 13th , well now if I miss again before April I will be fired. We have personal days but they have to be approved in advanced as well as using a vaction day. We need sick days but walmart could care less. |
| 34594 | January 22, 2010 | Heather Copeland | |
| 34593 | January 21, 2010 | Shelly Creeden | I have been written up for calling in sick when my father was still in ICU suffering from a stroke and still bleeding on his brain. I was also 8 months pregnant, told that if i called in one more time, i was fired. mind you that i had come in plenty of my days off to work when they were short, but that did not matter. |
| 34592 | January 20, 2010 | Anonymous | |
| 34591 | January 20, 2010 | Bethany Wyss | Yes they would help me! I'm off work sick right now and I'm scared to death to go back tomorrow because I'm afraid that they will fire me. But I have strep and couldn't work but I have no time off now I will recieve points because I took time off to get better. |
| 34590 | January 19, 2010 | Anonymous | I worked for an insurance company from 7/06 - 3/09. Even though they claim to have a "Family Friendly" workplace policy, perception is different from reality: One of the reasons I wanted to work for this company was that they had a childcare center on site. I thought, wonderful! I can see my then 13-month old during lunch & be with him if need be, since the center was on the 1st floor. And I did not have my family available, since they lived in another state. Well, as you know, daycare centers have a policy that if a child shows any sign of illness and/or has a suspicious rash or abrasion on the skin, you have to pick them up within 1 hr. and have your pediatrician's note clearing the child to come back to the center. Well, kids being kids, I did have those problems a couple of times with my son. I would get the phone call & told my Team Lead that I would have to pick up my son. They were ok with it, but lo & behold, when I would come back to work, I would get what they call an "occurrence" slapped against me. Three occurrences is a verbal, then a written, then dismissal DESPITE the note from the pediatrician. See, this company (like many other employers) has a PTO (paid time off) system where you have to earn days off on a monthly basis. For example, if you have been employed with the company for 3 yrs, you are entitled to 19 days vacation, BUT (follow along here, ok) you have to work a FULL MONTH in order to earn ONE day (PTO) off! So, technically, you are borrowing days. I was on a written warning when I became pregnant. Thats when the game (and their treatment of me) changed. My 2nd pregnancy in 2008 was considered high risk by my ob-gyn, so I had several doctor visits to monitor my health & my baby's health. In every instance, I had to apply for FMLA time & go through the indignity of having the Disability Unit's RN (you heard right, RN, NOT a Dr.) to determine whether or not my claims were valid. Moreover, I was not allowed a workplace accomidation for my pregnancy, even though HR Policy allowed for it (The reason I was denied? I was not Management) The stress from the job, & my health, caused me to go on Maternity Leave earlier than planned, & have my baby 2 weeks earlier. Coming back to work was a nightmare due to the adverse treatment I received by management, and after reporting my treatment to the company HR Dept. & Ethics Committee, I was fired from my job. So I have been unemployed for almost a year now. We need to have companies suspend this whole PTO policy because in too many instances, workers are being forced to either work while sick, or make a choice between caring for your child or risk termination. I know that there are those who abuse the system, but what about people like us who work overtime, (and sometimes don't get compensated for it), and do things "for the company"? Seems like only those in Management are able to take advantage of "perks" like workplace accomidations for disability/pregnancy and time off to care for a sick baby. |
| 34589 | January 19, 2010 | Kathy Sandru | I worked for an insurance company from 7/06 - 3/09. Even though they claim to have a "Family Friendly" workplace policy, perception is different from reality: One of the reasons I wanted to work for this company was that they had a childcare center on site. I thought, wonderful! I can see my then 13-month old during lunch & be with him if need be, since the center was on the 1st floor. And I did not have my family available, since they lived in another state. Well, as you know, daycare centers have a policy that if a child shows any sign of illness and/or has a suspicious rash or abrasion on the skin, you have to pick them up within 1 hr. and have your pediatrician's note clearing the child to come back to the center. Well, kids being kids, I did have those problems a couple of times with my son. I would get the phone call & told my Team Lead that I would have to pick up my son. They were ok with it, but lo & behold, when I would come back to work, I would get what they call an "occurrence" slapped against me. Three occurrences is a verbal, then a written, then dismissal DESPITE the note from the pediatrician. See, this company (like many other employers) has a PTO (paid time off) system where you have to earn days off on a monthly basis. For example, if you have been employed with the company for 3 yrs, you are entitled to 19 days vacation, BUT (follow along here, ok) you have to work a FULL MONTH in order to earn ONE day (PTO) off! So, technically, you are borrowing days. I was on a written warning when I became pregnant. Thats when the game (and their treatment of me) changed. My 2nd pregnancy in 2008 was considered high risk by my ob-gyn, so I had several doctor visits to monitor my health & my baby's health. In every instance, I had to apply for FMLA time & go through the indignity of having the Disability Unit's RN (you heard right, RN, NOT a Dr.) to determine whether or not my claims were valid. Moreover, I was not allowed a workplace accomidation for my pregnancy, even though HR Policy allowed for it (The reason I was denied? I was not Management) The stress from the job, & my health, caused me to go on Maternity Leave earlier than planned, & have my baby 2 weeks earlier. Coming back to work was a nightmare due to the adverse treatment I received by management, and after reporting my treatment to the company HR Dept. & Ethics Committee, I was fired from my job. So I have been unemployed for almost a year now. We need to have companies suspend this whole PTO policy because in too many instances, workers are being forced to either work while sick, or make a choice between caring for your child or risk termination. I know that there are those who abuse the system, but what about people like us who work overtime, (and sometimes don't get compensated for it), and do things "for the company"? Seems like only those in Management are able to take advantage of "perks" like workplace accomidations for disability/pregnancy and time off to care for a sick baby. |
| 34588 | January 19, 2010 | Vickie Victoria del Rosario | |
| 34587 | January 18, 2010 | April Dalbeck | My husband works at Wal-mart, where they had paid sick days from second day you called out for a while, then they made it from the first day (which helped out greatly, as he'd be sick for usually only one day), but then after that they switched it back to the second day, meaning he'd had to use a personal/vacation day to cover it, which later on he usually needed for an emergency basis. They need to bring back paid sick days on the first day called out, otherwise there are going to be a lot of angry people, and I've talked to a few. |
| 34586 | January 17, 2010 | Timothy Dalbeck | Real sick days would be awesome but as it stands here at the wal-mart were I work. Instead, if you get sick, you have to use vacation or personal days (funny how they aren't personal or vacation days anymore). They used the state of maine law to give us employees the short end of the stick. Most of the times that I have gotten fairly ill enough to not come in lasted only about a day or so; so I come in the next day and lo and behold, those sick hours are useless. |
| 34585 | January 13, 2010 | connie elliott | I've worked at the same place for 33 yrs. NO sick days. I haven't been sick in over 2 years. Caught hell today for taking elderly mother to doctor. FED UP! |
| 34584 | January 13, 2010 | connie elliott | I've worked at the same place for 33 yrs. NO sick days. I haven't been sick in over 2 years. Caught hell today for taking elderly mother to doctor. FED UP! |
| 34583 | January 12, 2010 | I have the benefit of working for and with an agency that provides paid sick days but know a number of people who do not. Please ensure that this important benefit is a right for all instead of a privilege for some. |