“More than 6 million Black women, or 57% of Black women in the workforce, live in ‘pre-emption states,’ according to a March report from the National Partnership for Women & Families, A Better Balance and the 75 Million. This term describes states where laws on the books don’t mandate paid sick leave and bar local governments from passing their own paid sick day laws.
“‘Instead, [Black women] are being forced to shoulder caregiving and breadwinning responsibilities without the most basic workplace safeguards,’ Jocelyn Frye, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families and co-lead of The 75 Million said in a statement. Pre-emption states are harmful for Black women and harmful overall, because Black women have some of the highest rates of labor force participation in the U.S., Frye said.
“‘Black women are disproportionately suffering from a lack of access to paid sick days, and are often forced to make impossible choices between their health and paycheck as a result,’ she added.”