March 12th, 2020 by WCBC Radio

U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) has joined Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03), to introduce new, emergency paid sick leave legislation, building off the Healthy Families Act (HFA), to provide paid sick days immediately to workers in light of the coronavirus crisis, and in preparation for future public health emergencies. This legislation is included in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act set to be considered today by the House of Representatives.

 

“During a public health emergency, the last thing a sick employee should worry about is whether or not they have sufficient savings and enough time off to stay home or go to the doctor. As we’ve seen with the coronavirus, this is also crucial to preventing the spread of the disease,” said Senator Van Hollen. “We must act now to ensure that workers are able to recover safely at home and to effectively contain and mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.”

 

This emergency paid sick days legislation requires all employers to allow workers to accrue seven days of paid sick leave and to provide an additional 14 days available immediately in the event of any public health emergency, including the current coronavirus crisis.