The Panel

Update:   Your help is needed to get Paid Sick Days out of Ways and Means.  Here is a script for your calls to members of House Ways and Means:

Hi, my name is _____________ and I live in _______[town]________________.  As a member of [union, advocacy group, etc.] and a constituent, I urge you to support the pending paid sick days legislation (HB1815) by urging  Speaker DeLeo and Chairman Murphy to advance the paid sick days bill out of HWM and to the Floor so it can be voted on before Memorial Day.

The paid sick days bill is a critical piece of legislation that will help the hundreds of thousands of people in Massachusetts by reducing the spread of illness in workplaces, schools, and childcare centers.  It would allow working people to earn paid sick days that they can use to stay home when they or their children are sick.

Today, without a paid sick days law, 1.4 million working people in the state are not allowed to earn paid sick days.  That means they lose pay, and risk their jobs, if they stay home when sick or stay home with a sick child.

Please work to pass the paid sick days bill in this legislative session.  Urge  the House Ways and Means Committee to move the bill through the legislative process.

Thank you.

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JALSA plays a leadership role in the Massachusetts Paid Leave Coalition, which educates the public and policy makers about the critical need and benefits of providing all workers with access to paid sick days. We have organized personal testimonies and other strategies to pass paid sick leave legislation in Massachusetts, working with the Greater Boston Legal Services, ACORN, the Mass. AFL-CIO and other allies.

The coalition persuaded Blue Cross Blue Shield of MA to co-fund a recent breakthrough study by Human Impact Partners that demonstrated that having paid sick days in Massachusetts would actually result in improved health outcomes for childhood conditions like asthma and increased employee productivity.

See the Summary of the Massachusetts Health Impact Study

See the Addendum

See the Benefits of Paid Sick Leave on Health Care Costs

Ellen Wallace on WBZ Coalition Delivering Assessment Study to Legislators

In recognition of JALSA’s work on this issue and its impact on the lives of women and girls, a $20,000 grant for our Paid Sick Days Coalition was awarded by the Boston Women’s Fund. Currently, almost half of Massachusetts employees do not have a single day in which they can take themselves, a child, or parent for quick medical intervention without fear of losing their jobs.

The Massachusetts Paid Leave Coalition has a website with up-to-date information on this campaign.

On July 14, 2009, the Coalition supported a briefing with the Massachusetts Women’s Legislative Caucus. Panelists included: Dr. Paul Chung, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the UCLA Medical Center; Katie Bethel, Political Director of MomsRising.org; Barbara Ferrer, Executive Director of the Boston Public Health Commission; and Terry Brinig, a local School Bus Driver.

Video of Dr. Paul Chung’s presentation to be posted soon.

Representative Alice Wolf Introduced the Panel

Dr. Paul Chung discussed his research supporting the fact that Paid Sick Days actually improves the health and performance of employees and their families

Video to be posted soon

Katie Bethel shared with us the need for Paid Sick Days for families.

Barbara Ferrer talked about how the government feels stymied during a public health emergency, such as the Swine Flu, because the only way they can control an epidemic is by closing down businesses and schools when they really just want to tell people to stay home.

Terry Brinig tells an emotional, personal story about her need for paid sick days to keep her son healthy, as well as the hundreds of students she transports in a day.

There was a Question and Answer Session after the presentation.