The Effect of Mandatory Sick Leave Policies…

• Maxford Nelson, Labor Policy Analyst, The Freedom Foundation

Mandatory paid sick leave laws are employment benefit regulations that require employers to provide certain amounts of paid sick leave to employees…

Since San Francisco’s implementation of a citywide paid sick leave law.., at least seven cities and the state of Connecticut have adopted similar laws… Proponents of mandatory paid sick leave laws argue that…employees will no longer have to choose between going to work sick and foregoing pay, public health will improve by keeping sick workers from spreading illness at work, and businesses will profit from healthier employees and lower turnover…

This paper is the first to undertake a comprehensive review…of the most significant… studies of mandatory paid sick leave policies. Several important conclusions…emerge from this analysis:

• Workplace illness does not appear to be a widespread problem…
• Most firms voluntarily offer paid sick leave benefits without being required to do so by law…
• Studies tend to exaggerate employer support for mandatory paid sick leave laws…
• Consumers, workers and employers are all negatively affected by mandatory paid sick leave policies…
• Mandatory paid sick leave laws do nothing to reduce turnover…

We Respond & Your Comments

Surprise! Paid sick leave laws, ginned up by “compassionate” politicians to dredge up votes, are like most “Progressive” policies (e.g. minimum wage increases). They:

• Sound good
• Don’t work
• Are expensive
• Hurt the people they were supposed to help.

We encourage you to click on the link here and read the short “Executive Summary,” where you’ll see even more reasons why mandatory paid sick leave laws accomplish nothing but scoring votes for Progressives.

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