In 2007, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to enact a paid sick-leave ordinance requiring employers to give workers one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked. Leave time can be used for one’s own illness or to care for a family member. Survey data published by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, in 2011, show that most employers who were affected by the new mandate report no difficulty providing their workers with paid sick days, while six out of seven employers say that there has been no negative effect on their company’s profitability. Most workers surveyed did not use all their sick days (indicating that they aren’t abusing the privilege), while those benefitting from the new law proved to be 20 percent less likely to send sick kids to school than parents without paid sick time.

Robert Drago and Vicky Lovell. San Francisco’s Paid Sick Leave Ordinance: Outcomes for Employers and Employees. Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 2011.

http://www.iwpr.org/publications/pubs/San-Fran-PSD/at_download/file

This article was featured in the January 2012 issue of Working Mother Research Institute’s email newsletter, Working Mother Research Institute Essentials. To read additional stories from that issue, see the related content section above.