1199SEIU Caregivers Testify at Earned Sick Time Hearing

May 19, 2015

Over two hundred Boston residents, including 1199SEIU members, gathered for an earned sick time implementation hearing in Boston on Monday. Massachusetts voters passed a ballot initiative creating a new law requiring earned sick time. Full implementation of the law is scheduled to go into effect on July 1, 2015. However, big business lobbyists want to delay the law. Healthcare workers and advocates are uniting and speaking out to ensure that the will of the voters is respected.

1199SEIU Personal Care Attendant Michelle Guzman testified to the committee, "It’s not just about being able to take time off to take care of my children if they are ill. If I'm sick, I can expose my consumer, especially if they have a vulnerable immune system. It is not that employers are giving sick time for free. I am earning this sick time. It is a worker's right.”

Nearly 1 million hard working people in Massachusetts – almost one-third workers in the state – can’t take a single paid sick day and risk losing their job if they have to stay home to care for themselves or for a sick child. As healthcare workers, we believe workers shouldn’t to have to choose between the job they need and the child they love. They must to be able to take their child or their aging parent to the doctor without worrying about being fired.

The law gives workers the right to start earning their sick time beginning July 1, 2015 and nothing should stand in the way of that.

The Attorney General Maura Healey proposed a “safe harbor” rule for generous employers who provide paid time off to their employees as of May 1, 2015. The safe harbor rule does not change the effective date of the law, but just allows companies that provide sick time already, and don’t retaliate against employees for its use, to be deemed in compliance with the law from July 1, 2015 through December 31, 2015. After December 31, 2015, these companies have to adjust their paid time off policies to conform with the Earned Sick Time law.

Caregivers support earned sick time for working families that don't have it now. This law will protect workers from retaliation when they need care for themselves or a loved one, and support responsible businesses that already provide sick time. We hope the Attorney General’s office can ensure full implementation of the law on July 1, 2015.