California is Leading the Way Toward a
National Paid Sick Days Standard
JULY 2016
California is one of a handful of states that guarantee working people paid sick days. More
than 13 million Californians have the right to earn up to three paid sick days each year to
use to recover from illnesses, care for a sick child or family member, or seek health services
for themselves or a loved one. Survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking can
also access critical services without risking their financial security under the law.1 The
state is also home to San Francisco, which passed the nation’s first paid sick days law in
2006. In the past three years, five California cities – Oakland, Emeryville, Santa Monica,
San Diego and Los Angeles – have adopted their own paid sick days standards These local
laws allow workers to accrue and use more paid sick time than the statewide law provides.
California and these six cities are among a growing list of states and localities across the
nation that have or will soon have paid sick days laws in place. A list of current laws is
available at NationalPartnership.org/PSDlaws, and details on each of these laws are
available at NationalPartnership.org/PSDstatutes. A growing body of evidence shows that
these laws are working well.2
Still, access to paid sick days should not depend on where a person lives or works. All
workers in the United States need paid sick days protections. Nationwide, more than 41
million private sector workers – 36 percent of the private sector workforce3 – cannot earn
paid sick time. When workers do not have access to paid sick days, the consequences can be
significant. For a typical family in the United States without paid sick days, for example,
3.5 days lost to illness are equivalent to the family’s entire monthly grocery budget.4
Paid Sick Days Benefit Families, Business and Our Economy
 Paid sick days keep families healthy. When workers have paid sick days, they are able
to get regular physicals and take their children to well-child visits and for
immunizations, which may prevent serious illnesses.5 Children with serious illnesses do
better when their parents are able to stay with them.6
 Paid sick days are good for business. Employee turnover is expensive – on average, onefifth of an employee’s annual salary.7 Paid sick days result in reduced turnover,8 which
leads to reduced hiring and training costs for businesses.
 Paid sick days decrease unnecessary health care costs. Universal
access to paid sick days would eliminate an estimated 1.3 million
emergency room visits each year, saving $1.1 billion annually in
costs to individuals, private insurers and public programs, such
as Medicare and Medicaid.9
San Francisco’s Paid Sick Days Experience
San Francisco enacted the nation’s first paid sick days law by voter initiative in 2006 and
the law took effect in 2007. Employees in businesses with fewer than 10 workers can earn
up to five paid sick days per year; employees in businesses with 10 or more workers can
earn up to nine days annually. Three years after the law’s implementation, more than 70
percent of employers reported no impact on profitability (another 15 percent said they didn’t
know) and two-thirds of employers expressed support for the law. Although workers can earn
up to nine paid sick days, the typical worker used only three, and reports of abuse were
exceptionally rare.10 San Francisco’s economy continued to grow after the law’s
implementation, with higher rates of job and business growth than neighboring counties,
including in the sectors most affected by the law, such as accommodation and food service.11
In 2011, PricewaterhouseCoopers named San Francisco the third best city for opportunity in
the world.12
Setting a National Standard Should Be a Priority
California’s law was significant when it was adopted in 2014 because it provided paid sick
days coverage to more than six million workers whose employers did not previously provide
paid sick time.13 However, the original law contained a significant gap: It excluded
approximately 365,000 in-home supportive services (IHSS) workers. Fortunately,
advocates, labor unions and workers successfully closed that gap by securing an
improvement in the law in 2016. Beginning July 1, 2018, California’s IHSS home care
workers will be able to earn up to three paid sick days.
Beyond California, workers across the United States want, need and deserve a paid sick
days standard. Currently, there is no federal law that guarantees workers in the United
States the right to earn paid sick days.
 At the national level, there is strong public support for universal access to paid sick
days: 85 percent of voters want employers to provide paid sick time.14
 The federal Healthy Families Act (H.R. 932/S. 497) would establish a national paid
sick days standard, allowing workers in businesses with 15 or more employees to earn
up to seven job-protected paid sick days each year to be used to recover from their own
illnesses, access preventive care, provide care to a sick family member, attend school
meetings related to a child’s health condition or disability or seek assistance related to
domestic violence, stalking or sexual assault. Workers in businesses with fewer than
15 employees would earn up to seven job-protected unpaid sick days each year to be
used for the same reasons, unless their employers choose to offer paid sick days.
People across the United States should have a fair shot at getting the care they need,
caring for a child or assisting a loved one – no matter where they live or work. For more,
visit PaidSickDays.org.
1 U.S. Census Bureau. (2015). American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates 2014, GeographiesCalifornia, Table DP03: Selected Economic Characteristics. Retrieved 17 June 2016,
from http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_13_1YR_DP03&prodType=table
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2 National Partnership for Women & Families. (2015, November). Paid Sick Days: Low Cost, High Reward for Workers, Employers and Communities. Retrieved 17 June 2016, from
http://www.nationalpartnership.org/research-library/work-family/psd/paid-sick-days-low-cost-high-reward.pdf
3 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2016, July 22). National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in the United States – March 2016 (Table 6). Retrieved 22 July 2016, from
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ebs2.pdf (Based on a private sector workforce of 114 million people)
4 Gould, E., Filion, K., & Green, A. (2011, June 29). The Need for Paid Sick Days: The lack of a federal policy further erodes family economic security. Economic Policy Institute
Publication. Retrieved 17 June 2016, from http://www.epi.org/page/-/BriefingPaper319.pdf?nocdn=1
5 Peipins, L. A., Soman, A., Berkowitz, Z., & White, M. C. (2012). The lack of paid sick leave as a barrier to cancer screening and medical care-seeking: results from the National
Health Interview Survey. BMC Public Health, 12(1), 520.
6 Schuster, M. A., & Chung, P. J. (2014). Time Off to Care for a Sick Child: Why Family-Leave Policies Matter. The New England Journal of Medicine, 371(6), 493-495.
7 Boushey, H., & Glynn, S. (2012, November 16). There Are Significant Business Costs to Replacing Employees. Center for American Progress Publication. Retrieved 17 June 2016,
from https://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/16084443/CostofTurnover0815.pdf
8 Hill, H. D. (2013, May). Paid Sick Leave and Job Stability. Work and Occupations, 40(2), 143-173.
9 Miller, K., Williams, C., & Yi, Y. (2011, November). Paid Sick Days and Health: Cost Savings from Reduced Emergency Department Visits. Institute for Women’s Policy Research
Publication. Retrieved 17 June 2016, from http://www.iwpr.org/publications/pubs/paid-sick-days-and-health-cost-savings-from-reduced-emergency-department-visits
10 Drago R., & Lovell, S. (2011, February). San Francisco’s Paid Sick Leave Ordinance: Outcomes for Employers and Employees. Institute for Women’s Policy Research Publication.
Retrieved 17 June 2016, from http://www.iwpr.org/publications/pubs/San-Fran-PSD (Based on median number of days taken by employees in San Francisco)
11 Miller, K., & Towne, S. (2011, September). San Francisco Employment Growth Remains Stronger with Paid Sick Days Law Than Surrounding Counties. Institute for Women’s
Policy Research Publication. Retrieved 17 June 2016, from http://www.iwpr.org/publications/pubs/san-francisco-employment-growth-remains-stronger-with-paid-sick-days-lawthan-surrounding-counties
12 PricewaterhouseCoopers & Partnership for New York City. (2011). Cities of Opportunity. Retrieved 17 June 2016, from http://www.pwc.com/us/en/cities-ofopportunity/2012/assets/cities-of-opportunity-2011.pdf
13 Office of Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. (2014, September 10). Governor Brown Signs Legislation to Provide Millions of Californians with Paid Sick Leave [Press release].
Retrieved 17 June 2016, from http://gov.ca.gov/news.php?id=18690
14 New York Times and CBS News Poll. (2015, June 3). Americans’ Views on Income Inequality and Workers’ Rights. National telephone poll conducted with 1,022 adults on
landlines and cellphones May 28-31, 2015, by the New York Times and CBS News. Retrieved 17 June 2016, from
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/06/03/business/income-inequality-workers-rights-international-trade-poll.html?_r=0
© 2016 National Partnership for Women & Families. All rights reserved.
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