To the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections:
 
Working Mother Media (WMM) is proud to express its continued support for the Healthy Families Act.  WMM issued a press release in 2007 in support of the Healthy Families Act when it was last introduced.  Our support today is as strong as it has ever been.  WMM—the publisher of Working Mother magazine and the force behind the 24-year-old signature initiative Working Mother 100 Best Companies—has long advocated family-friendly policies in the workplace.  WMM is standing with Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-Connecticut) and Sen, Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) as they promote common-sense change that will enhance the lives of millions of working Americans. 

Every study, every piece of research shows that giving workers paid sick days to attend to personal concerns, as well as to those of children and extended family members, increases job satisfaction, workplace morale, company profitability, and community health.
 
This issue is particularly important to women, including our 2 million readers who combine career and family.  Mothers are the family health managers in America, and we need to make sure that when the family health manager also works outside the home, she can still perform her important job of keeping her family healthy.  It is time to level the playing field by asking government to mandate a standard that protects the health of our working families. The provision of a minimum standard for paid sick days will dramatically change the lives of countless workers and their families.
 
Poorer Americans, in particular, will benefit from the proposed legislation.  An estimated three quarters of low-wage workers have no paid sick days, and research from the Urban Institute estimates that of working parents with incomes below 200% of the federal poverty line, 41% have no paid leave at all.  As a result, workers who least can afford it are forced to miss work or lose their jobs to care for themselves and family members. Working mothers, as primary household caregivers, feel the burden most acutely.
 
In response to the issues raised by the original introduction of the Healthy Families Act, Working Mother Media has highlighted the importance of paid sick days in the business world by making sick day policy a factor in evaluating applicants to the Working Mother 100 Best Companies award. We want to be certain that our winners offer this important supports to their employees.
 
Sincerely,
 
Carol Evans
President
Working Mother Media A Division of Bonnier Corporation