Earned sick days good for business and working families | Opinion

By Jersey Journal Guest Columnist
September 22, 2015 at  6:05 PM

By ROLANDO LAVARRO JR.

GUEST COLUMNIST

In January 2014, under Mayor Fulop's leadership, Jersey City became the first municipality in New Jersey to enact and guarantee by law earned sick days for its workers. For the Mayor and Council, passing the Jersey City Earned Sick Days Ordinance was the right thing to do as a matter of economics, public health, and conscience.

Earned sick days are not only good for the health and well-being of workers and their families; they are also good for local businesses.  Workers who come to work sick risk spreading germs and infecting co-workers, customers, and the public.  Allowing workers to earn paid sick days increases productivity and morale, reduces turnover, and saves money in the long run.

It's important to note that when Jersey City first contemplated earned sick days, we knew it was important to test the new law and study whether it was having the intended benefits to workers without any detriment to local employers.

A year later, a study conducted by Rutgers University's Center for Women and Work, on the impact of the Earned Sick Days Ordinance in Jersey City, confirms that we made the right call. As reported in NJ Spotlight, results were even better for those employers who changed their policies due to the law, with 41.8 percent reporting improvements.  These findings are in line with cities like Seattle and the State of Connecticut, where earned sick days laws have been benefiting their workers over a longer period of time.

While our economy has recovered well from the national recession, Jersey City's hard working families still face too much uncertainty, living pay check to pay check and unable to afford a day without pay.  Shockingly, only about half of all workers in New Jersey have access to earned sick days for their own illness and even less are able to use an earned sick day to care for a sick child. Jersey City is fortunate that our workers no longer belong to that statistic.

With school back in session and flu season not too far away, having earned sick days will prove even more valuable to Jersey City workers when their kids become sick. While my wife and I are fortunate to have sick days we can use to care for our daughter, not everyone is.  Jersey City is home to 100,000 households, including 17,000 female head of households and close to 9,000 single moms with children under 18 years old.  Earned Sick Days protects these caregivers if they should need to care for a sick child or become ill themselves and provides them options so no one has to choose between being a good worker or a good parent.

Since Earned Sick Days first became the law of the land in Jersey City, eight New Jersey municipalities have now followed Mayor Fulop's lead, proactively protecting their workforces.  At this Thursday's Council meeting, the Jersey City Municipal Council will take up Ordinance 15.135, which would strengthen our existing Earned Sick Days Law requiring employers to provide all Jersey City workers with paid sick days (rather than unpaid).  With this action, we hope people across New Jersey will see what we know in Jersey City, namely Earned Sick Day policy works; and that state legislators will recognize the value of promoting public health and protecting workers and by enacting Earned Sick Days law statewide.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Rolando R. Lavarro, Jr. is Jersey City's City Council President.

http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2 ... ness_and_working_fam.html