Nearly half of America’s private workers do not receive even
one day of paid sick leave, and the United States stands nearly alone among the community
of nations in penalizing its workforce for illness.

Low-wage workers, many of whom are single mothers living from paycheck to paycheck
with little or no money in savings, tend to be hit the hardest by not having paid sick leave.
Furthermore, workers who are fired for missing work are rarely eligible for unemployment
insurance.

It’s a situation the Washington-based Public Welfare Foundation hopes to do something
about.

“A low wage worker — or any worker for that matter — shouldn’t have to choose between
going to work with a 102 degree fever or losing a day’s pay, when she’s already struggling
to make ends meet,” Foundation President Deborah Leff said. “The Public Welfare
Foundation is looking for solutions to the problem, and our hope is that this million-dollar
initiative will spark new ideas and actions.”

In an effort to promote reforms that will secure paid sick-leave for American workers, Public
Welfare’s Board of Directors announced today that it has approved a two-year, $1 million
initiative for groups to build support for paid sick leave, raise awareness about the issue,
and identify policy solutions. The Public Welfare Foundation initiative is the largest and the
first of its kind devoted solely to the issue of paid sick leave.

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