Latest Sick leave Stories

Eight-Year Worldwide Study Finds U.S. Lacking Compared to Other Nations on Paid Sick Days, Paid Paternal Leave, Breastfeeding, Other Worker Supports WASHINGTON, Nov. 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A major new study by researchers at Harvard and McGill Universities - the largest ever to look at working conditions worldwide - finds the United States far behind other economically successful nations in terms of adopting policies that support workers and families. The new study finds that 14 of...

United States lawmakers were told on Tuesday that the swine flu is causing "an America emergency" as employees who lack paid sick leave go to work despite being ill, which helps to spread the disease. The A(H1N1) virus "is causing an emergency for workers and families across the country," Senator Chris Dodd told a Senate subcommittee hearing on paid sick leave in a time of pandemic flu.Dodd said that the U.S. is the only developed nation without national policy on paid...

Announces Obama Administration endorsement of Healthy Families Act WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Deputy Secretary of Labor Seth Harris today testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee on Children and Families regarding workplace flexibility and paid leave in the context of the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic. Harris expressed the administration's strong support for the Healthy Families Act as a way to provide workplace flexibilities and increased...

SHRM member from Wingate Healthcare outlines SHRM's voluntary paid leave principles ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In testimony today before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee on Children and Families, Elissa O'Brien, SPHR, vice president of human resources for Wingate Healthcare, urged Congress to consider alternative approaches to policies governing workplace leave that reflect the needs of today's workforce. O'Brien testified on behalf of...

PITTSBURGH, Nov. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Punishing workers for taking sick leave puts Wal-Mart on track to be a major spreader of Swine Flu this fall, according to a new report by the National Labor Committee. The retail giant gives workers demerits and deducts pay for staying home when they are sick or to care for sick children. In interviews with Wal-Mart "associates" at stores across New York State, workers confirmed that they had no choice but to work sick. One Wal-Mart employee...

Nearly half of U.S. workers have no paid sick leave -- a problem that could worsen the spread of the fall flu season, officials said. A child can't stay home without a parent staying with them. So if the parent doesn't have paid sick time, the child mostly likely goes to school, and the parent goes to work, said Shula Warren, chief of staff for New York City council member Gale Brewer. The second sweep this year of the H1N1 flu virus has re-ignited arguments about how much sick leave...

SAN DIEGO, Sept. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Researchers at the University of San Diego's Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate and CB Richard Ellis have found that employees who work in green buildings are more productive than their counterparts who work in non-green buildings. Green buildings were defined as those that are LEED-certified at any level or those that bear the Energy Star label. In the study, researchers Norm Miller, Ph.D., academic director at the Burnham-Moores Center,...

Only one-third of U.S. businesses say they could sustain their business if half of their workers were absent for two weeks due to H1N1 flu, a survey indicates. The survey is part of an ongoing series on the country's response to the H1N1 flu outbreak undertaken by the Harvard Opinion Research Program at the Harvard School of Public Health. Businesses need to start planning how to adjust their operations to account for greater absenteeism and to slow the spread of H1N1 in the workplace,...

Employees Will Face Challenges As Few Businesses Offer Paid Leave to Care for Sick Family Members In a national survey of businesses that looks at their preparations for a possible widespread H1N1 outbreak, Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers found that only one-third believe they could sustain their business without severe operational problems if half their workforce were absent for two weeks due to H1N1 (also known as "swine flu"). Just one-fifth believe they could...

LOS ANGELES, July 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Security officers with SEIU who protect Kaiser Permanente hospitals nationwide voted overwhelmingly today to ratify their first-ever union contract. The three year contract with private security company Securitas -- which is contracted by Kaiser to protect its facilities -- includes family healthcare and higher wages for the 2,000 officers nationwide."This is a great victory," said Dale Brown, an officer who protects the South Sacramento...