The Washington Work and Family Coalition would like to offer big thanks to Senator Patty Murray and Representative Suzan DelBene for their courageous championing of the Healthy Families Act. Last Friday February 20th, Congresswomen Murray and DelBene hosted a press conference at Seattle’s Paramount Theater to introduce the Healthy Families Act, a bill that would allow workers with 15 or more employees to earn up to seven paid sick days per year.
Here in Washington, 1 million workers still lack access to a single paid sick day and that, Murray and DelBene say, is unacceptable. “Workers should not be forced to choose between caring for their health and keeping their paychecks,” says DelBene. Senator Murray, who has cosponsored the bill every year since 2004 says, “no one should ever have to choose between their health, or a loved one’s health, and their economic security. Our outdated policies are forcing too many workers to make that kind of choice – that needs to change.”
If passed, the Healthy Families Act would:
- Allow workers at businesses with 15 or more employees to earn up to seven paid sick days per year;
- Guarantee workers at businesses with fewer than 15 employees up to seven job-protected unpaid sick days per year;
- Allow workers to use their sick days to care for a child, parent, spouse, domestic partner or other individual related by blood or affinity; and
- Provide funding for outreach and education around the worker rights guaranteed in the law.
Workers around the country are leading the movement to demand paid sick days – and the Healthy Families Act comes in response to this growing national trend. Three states and 17 cities, including Seattle and Tacoma in Washington have passed paid sick days bills.
President Obama called for paid sick days in his State of the Union Address this past January. “Today, we are the only advanced country on Earth that doesn’t guarantee paid sick leave or paid maternity leave to our workers. Send me a bill that gives every worker in America the opportunity to earn seven days of paid sick leave. It’s the right thing to do.”
Thank you, Congresswomen Murray and DelBene, for your strong leadership and your commitment to supporting workers!
Washington Work and Family Coalition 