FAQs

Do other states and communities have sick day laws?

15 states and 38 cities have passed earned sick days laws, helping over 16 million people. Currently, 49 percent of private-sector workers in Montana do not have access to paid sick days through their employers. Passing a sick days law would provide these workers the opportunity to earn a minimum number of sick days each year and be able to remain financially secure when they need to care for themselves and loved ones.

How do sick days support public health?

Paid sick days keep workplaces healthier by preventing the spread of disease to others.

• Without sick days, people are forced to go to work regardless of their illness, which spreads public health risks to workers and customers. During the coronavirus pandemic, 20,000 front-line employees at one company alone contracted Covid-19.
• Low-wage workers – who often work in food service, health care, and childcare jobs – are the least likely to have access to paid sick days. Workers in sectors such as these are also at higher risk of Covid-19 infection.

How do sick days support businesses and our economy?

When working families have a reliable income that they can count on, regardless of unexpected illnesses, this money flows back into our local economies.

• Paid sick days can help reduce unemployment.
• When workers come to work sick, they are less productive. This costs employers $234 billion a year, which is considerably more than the cost of workers absent from work due to sickness.

How does earning sick days support working families in Montana?

Sick days help parents remain financially secure while balancing home and work demands.

• Especially for Montanans living paycheck to paycheck, the loss of even one day’s earnings, to recover from the flu or to take care of a sick child, can be devestating to the family’s ability to pay bills.
• Parents with paid sick days are more likely to stay home with a sick child, which helps kids recover quicker, and the more time kids are healthy and in class, the better they do in school. Keeping sick children at home also prevents the spread of illness to classmates.

How would sick days work?

Sick days are workplace protections passed by either a state law or local ordinance. If passed in Montana, a policy would guarantee that workers could earn a few sick days each year. Unlike paid family and medical leave, sick days policies are for short-term illnesses or injuries and would not require the creation of an insurance pool to fund the program.

What are sick days?

Everyone gets sick from time to time. Living in Montana, we know that especially during the winter, a cold or the flu is inevitable. All workers and their families need paid sick days to give them time to visit a doctor, recover from illness, or support a sick child or loved one without sacrificing their wages or their job.

What should Montana consider in its paid leave program?

Montana has the opportunity to learn from other states and consider a program that will provide the greatest amount of assistance to businesses and workers.

• Workers should receive at least 12 weeks of paid leave for: the birth, adoption, or foster placement of a child, to care for a seriously ill family member, or to recover from a serious illness or non-work related injury.
• Low-wage earners should receive a greater portion of their weekly wages, enabling them to better make ends meet during leave. Benefits could be scaled down as income increases and still allow higher-income earners to remain financially secure during leave.
• Providing a broad definition of family takes into account the varied forms of family in the 21st century.

What does paid leave look like in other states?

Nine states have enacted statewide paid family and medical leave programs, and dozens of other states are considering similar proposals.

• These states have created statewide family and medical leave insurance programs, which cover as many workers as possible and reduce individual contributions. The programs are funded by nominal contributions shared between employers and employees.

Don’t workers already get time off when they’re sick or have children?

• Only 21 percent of American workers have paid family leave through their employers, just 40 percent have medical leave, and over one-third have no paid sick leave.
• In Montana, two out of three workers are not covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Additionally, the majority of covered Montana workers earn low-wages and cannot afford FMLA’s unpaid leave.
• Low-income earners have far less access to paid leave. In 2014, three out of four low-wage earners did not have access to paid sick or paid family leave through their employers.

How does investing in paid leave support businesses?

A statewide paid leave program helps businesses attract and retain skilled workers.

• Montana’s job growth will slow as 100,000 workers approach retirement and too few skilled workers move into jobs. Paid leave can help businesses attract and retain workers.
• Because paid leave helps employers retain workers, they can experience lower turnover costs. In Montana, retaining one employee could save an employer up to $13,611.
• A statewide program can help small businesses compete with larger businesses by offering comparable benefits at little or no direct cost.
• In states with paid family and medical leave programs, employers have experienced improved worker attitudes and almost no program abuse.