Jewish Alliance for Law & Social Action » Paid Sick Days

Yes, you can be fired after taking maternity leave

Sheila Decter — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 00:58:06 +0000

Slate provides a serious look at the state of maternity leave. Recently, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that Massachusetts law did not protect individuals who took more time than explicitly stated in the state law – 8 weeks. In the case under review, the employee had relied on verbal permission.

See Slate article for an understanding of the limits of state and federal law and how badly we lag behind all other developed countries in the world on the matter of paid leave. See Slate: slate.com/id/2263065

Federal Paid Sick Days Testimony

andyoram — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:38:35 +0000

Administrative Support of Paid Sick Days

The Deputy Secretary of the Department of Labor, Mr. Seth Harris,
testified before the Senate Subcommittee on Children and Families,
Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and announced the
Obama Administration’s support for the Healthy Families Act during the
hearing: “The Cost of Being Sick: H1N1 and Paid Sick Days.”

The Healthy Families Act offers an important opportunity to provide
workers with economic security by assuring that they have the ability to
stay home if they are sick without fear of losing their jobs or being
forced to go to work sick because they cannot afford to stay home.

Boston Globe recognizes difficulties for parents who do not have access to paid sick days:

andyoram — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:30:11 +0000

“It is regrettable that Congress has yet to pass legislation requiring large employers to offer paid days off for workers who are sick or have to care for family members.”

JALSA Urges Passage of Paid Sick Leave Bill

andyoram — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:01:34 +0000

All state workers should be allowed to earn paid sick leave. Orders to the public to stay home with swine flu are particularly difficult to almost half of Massachusetts workers who do not have even a single day of paid sick leave.