News release
When It Comes to Paid Sick Days, Connecticut Legislators Are Listening to Moms
March 1, 2011
Lisa Lederer, 202-371-1996
MomsRising Members, Executive Director Present Testimony Before Joint Committee
“Mother knows best,” the old saying goes, and a coalition of organizations is hoping that the Connecticut Assembly will take that adage to heart when it comes to paid sick days legislation. Three moms representing MomsRising – the online and on-the-ground grassroots organization for moms and everyone who has a mom, working to achieve family economic security – testified before the Connecticut General Assembly Joint Labor and Employment Committee today in support of Senate Bill 913: An Act Mandating Employers Provide Paid Sick Leave to Employees (SB 913).
They included two of the organization’s members and MomsRising Executive Director Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner.
MomsRising member Desiree Rosado is a school bus driver and mother of three. Neither she nor her husband has paid sick days and when all three of her children came down with H1N1 in the fall of 2009, it took a serious toll on the family. In her testimony, Rosado said:
I missed about two weeks of work to care for my kids.
I got no sick pay, so my paycheck for that period was almost nothing. That caused tremendous hardship for my family. My husband and I lived paycheck-to-paycheck. We had no choice.
We are trying to pay down debts and make our family financially stable, but it’s been difficult. And it’s made immeasurably harder because whenever we get sick or our children get sick, we have to decide whether to stay home without pay, or to disregard doctor’s orders and risk getting sicker and infecting others by going to work or school.
When I don’t get paid, it wreaks havoc on our family budget. My husband handles the finances and is able to juggle things around so we can make ends meet, but sometimes we have to borrow from the rent money we’ve put aside. We hate to do that, but sometimes we have no choice.
MomsRising member Kerry Florio is a unit secretary on the oncology ward of Norwalk Hospital, who does earn paid sick days. That policy served Florio well when her son Erik had to be rushed to the emergency room because he was having trouble breathing. In her testimony, Florio said:
It all began when over the course of several hours it became apparent that Erik was having trouble breathing. At one point while trying to comfort him, I looked down at him and said, ‘I don’t think you can breathe baby.’ He whimpered through a wheeze and I knew it was time to get him to the emergency room.
We were in the ER from 10:30 at night to one in the morning. The ER physician felt it was an ear infection but suggested consulting with Erik’s pediatrician the next morning. I was lucky to be able to see Erik’s pediatrician the next morning at 9 AM. The pediatrician was worried that Erik had RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) which can lead to pneumonia, lung failure and in rare cases death. He gave us a course of treatment and asked me to return the following day again for a check in. Erik was a trooper through this whole ordeal, I was so proud of him.
Because of this unexpected visit I ended missing 16 hours, or two shifts at work. But because I have paid sick days, I didn’t have to worry about losing pay or my job. Instead, I could concentrate on being the best parent possible to my little boy when he needed me most.
Rowe-Finkbeiner was not able to present her testimony in person, but in a written statement shared the messages MomsRising has received from families across Connecticut who support the paid sick days legislation:
“With paid sick days, parents will not be forced to send sick children to school where they would likely infect classmates and teachers,” said Rowe-Finkbeiner. “Workers with paid sick days would not spread illnesses to their coworkers and customers, and businesses would benefit from more productive employees, higher employee morale and reduced turnover costs. Paid sick days can also help contain the nation’s health care costs because workers are able to go to the doctor for preventive and early detection and treatment.”
“Paid sick days are of enormous importance to mothers and all caregivers across the state,” she added. “Since MomsRising’s campaign for paid sick days began our members have contacted the Connecticut General Assembly thousands of times in support of this policy, many sharing their personal stories about how paid sick days, or a lack of paid sick days, have impacted them.”
Over 40 percent of Connecticut workers do not receive a single paid sick day all year. Among low-wage workers and in the service industry, the number without paid sick days rises to as high as 75 percent. SB 913 would allow all workers at companies with 25 or more employees to earn one hour of sick time for every 40 hours worked; a full time worker would earn 6.5 sick days per year. This time could also be used in cases of domestic violence.
In Connecticut, MomsRising is part of the Everybody Benefits coalition for paid sick days, which includes Connecticut Working Families, the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women, NARAL Pro-Choice Connecticut, labor unions, faith-based organizations, women’s advocates and health care providers.