Restaurant Workers Need Paid Sick Leave
"Paid sick leave" is the right of workers to both job security and continued pay when we get sick. This right exists in almost every country in the world, but not at the federal level in the US. For example, in Germany, workers have up to six weeks of sick leave with full pay, followed by 78 weeks of sick leave with reduced pay. In contrast, workers in the US do not have the right to a single hour of paid sick leave under federal law.
Here, the situation varies for workers based on the policies in effect at our job and based on the laws of the state and city where we might happen to reside. For restaurant workers, the situation is especially bad. One in four private-sector workers in the US lacks paid sick leave—this number rises to more than 40% in service occupations. Furthermore, half of all workers lack paid sick leave among the lowest 25 percent of wage earners.
Our experiences during COVID-19 have clearly shown us that we need paid sick leave. To get it, we need a union that will organize to win this important right.
What is the situation in New York City? The issue is covered by a local law that dates back to 2013. The law was adopted by the City Council that year over the veto of then Mayor Michael Bloomberg, expanded once in 2014, and expanded again in 2020 to bring it in line with New York State legislation. This is the current breakdown by employer:
100 or more employees: 56 hours of paid leave
5-99 employees: 40 hours of paid leave
4 or fewer employees and $1 million or more net income: 40 hours of paid leave
4 or fewer employees and less than $1 million net income: 40 hours of unpaid leave
1 or more domestic workers: 40 hours of paid leave
Although New York City and State belong to the small number of jurisdictions with similar laws on the books (7 out of the 10 most populous cities, a minority of 14 out of 50 states), this is still wholly inadequate for the interests of workers.
First of all, five days is too little. In most of the world, the right to paid sick leave is measured in months not days. This is one more testament to the difficult condition of being a worker in the US, which we can only come to learn when we compare our lives with those of workers in other places and in other times. We saw this in the debate on the inclusion of paid family and medical leave in the Biden spending bill. Initially, 12 weeks of paid leave were proposed. Later, the length was reduced to four weeks. Finally, it was entirely eliminated as a point from the Senate negotiations. Back to municipal tinkering.
Second, the bosses in their race for profitability will go so far as to violate the shabbiest local laws that already give workers no more than crumbs. Here, a recent culprit was Starbucks, which violated the NYC paid leave law between 2014 and 2016 by forcing workers to find substitutes during sick time, or face discipline or firing. After the company was caught, it settled for a $176,000 restitution, a slap on the wrist.
Third, in the restaurant industry in NYC, noncompliance by owners with the right of workers to paid sick leave may be widespread and, at the same time, city enforcement may be lacking. RESTAURANT WORKERS: HAVE YOU BEEN DENIED YOUR RIGHT TO PAID SICK LEAVE? Contact the Restaurant Workers Union today to join our campaign for NO LOST WAGES DUE TO COVID! We demand that the bosses or the government must pay for every cent of wages lost due to COVID-19.