Paid Sick Leave
Paid Sick Leave
Paid Sick Leave
Problem: Lack of Access
Lack of access to paid sick leave (PSL) forces millions of service-sector workers in the U.S. to choose between going to work sick (presenteeism) or losing their pay. Even though the COVID-19 pandemic brought renewed attention to this critical workplace benefit, access to paid sick leave remains highly limited and unequal in the service sector industry.
- Over half of workers at large service-sector firms have no paid sick leave
- Lacking access to paid sick leave is the norm among employees of large food service firms
- Service sector workers face high levels of economic insecurity, creating an often untenable trade-off between staying home while sick and making ends meet
What Can We Do?
Company Changes
There is dramatic variation across companies in access to paid sick leave, and when companies take the high road, they can really make a difference.
Case study
We studied Olive Garden’s expansion of paid sick leave during COVID-19 and found that changing to a high-road paid sick leave policy effectively broadened access to paid sick leave, as compared to other food service workers.
Figure 1. Difference-in-Differences Estimates of Paid Sick Leave Access at Olive Garden Versus Other Food Service Employers, 2017–20
The Shift Project Data. Cited from: Daniel Schneider, Elmer Portillo and Kristen Harknett. 2021. “Olive Garden’s Expansion of Paid Sick Leave During COVID-19 Reduced the Share of Employees Working while Sick.” Health Affairs 8(2021): 1328–1336.
Legislation
In the absence of a federal paid sick leave guarantee, some states and localities have legislated labor standards extending this benefit to workers, though many others have not. When these laws are passed, it makes a big difference for workers.
Case study
2017 Washington State paid sick leave law expanded workers’ access to paid sick leave among service sector workers by 28 percentage points.
Figure 2. Predicted Paid Sick Leave Coverage, by Period: Washington State Versus Comparison States, Fall 2016–Spring 2018
The Shift Project Data. Cited from: Daniel Schneider. 2020. “Paid Sick Leave in Washington State: Evidence on Employee Outcomes, 2016-2018.” American Journal of Public Health 110(4): 499-504.
Impacts of Paid Sick Leave Access
High-road corporate strategies and paid sick leave laws not only increased workers’ access to paid sick leave, but also reduced presenteeism and narrowed the gender gap.
Presenteeism
Olive Garden’s expansion of paid sick leave during the early COVID-19 pandemic reduced the share of its employees working while sick, as compared to other food service workers. This made a significant public health impact and benefited both workers and the public.
Figure 3. Difference-in-differences Estimates of Presenteeism at Olive Garden Versus Other Food Service Employers, 2017–20
The Shift Project data. Cited from: Daniel Schneider, Elmer Portillo and Kristen Harknett. 2021. “Olive Garden’s Expansion of Paid Sick Leave During COVID-19 Reduced The Share of Employees Working While Sick.” Health Affairs 8(2021): 1328–1336.
Gender Gap
Our research suggests that state and local laws mandating paid sick leave for workers are associated with a dramatic increase in access to this benefit, and gender inequality in paid sick leave is virtually eliminated. In the absence of such laws, 43% of men and 38% of women reported access to paid sick leave. However, in states and localities with paid sick leave laws, 70% of men and 69% of women reported access to this benefit.
Figure 4. Paid Sick Leave Benefits for US Service-Sector Workers, by Gender Identity and Law, 2017–21
