Massachusetts Paid Leave Coalition

“The U.S.Women’s Chamber of Commerce supports a minimum standard for paid sick days. Healthy businesses need healthy workers, which is precisely what paid sick days accomplish. Women-run businesses are on the forefront by typically offering such benefits because they understand the needs of working women and their families. Paid sick days are an investment in our families, our workforce, and our health that we cannot afford to do without.” Margot Dorfman, CEO,Women’s Chamber of Commerce. TAKE ACTION: E-mail Andrea Lindemann at the Center for Law and Social Policy; alindemann@clasp.org to add your business’s name to a letter to Congress supporting the national paid sick days bill, The Healthy Families Act (just include your business name and location in the subject line). Or e-mail Ellen Wallace at the Mass Paid Leave Coalition; ewallace@gbls.org to add your business's name to Massachusetts businesses that support of the state Paid Sick Days Act.

The Paid Sick Days Act would have required employers to give employees at least seven paid sick days, which could have been used for themselves or to care for a family member. The bill had been endorsed by the Legislature's Committee on Labor and Workforce Development but died in the Ways and Means Committee.

The Herald’s two days of articles against paid sick leave claim that a pending bill would be bad for business and lead to abuse (“ ‘Nuff to make you sick,” July 26 and “Putting recovery at risk,” July 27). Research says otherwise.