While specialists in government and healthcare are increasingly taking steps to medically combat the Coronavirus, enlightened public servants in Washington like Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and Senator Patty Murray of Washington have finally introduced legislation that “would mandate all employers to let workers accrue seven days of paid sick leave and immediately provide 14 additional days when there is a public health emergency.”
It is vitally important that Congress pass this law.
Currently, the National Family and Medical Leave Act do not require employers (of 50 or more people) to pay their employees for time off for family or medical emergencies.
Within the country, only Arizona, California, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont. Washington and Washington D.C have some form of paid sick leave.
Minnesota passed theirs this week (it was already in the legislative pipeline) as the Coronavirus spread in this nation.
Large, medium, and small private and public entities throughout the United States do offer some forms of paid family and medical leave but it is not universal as many organizations do not provide these benefits to their workers.
This is why legislation like what DeLauro and Murray are championing is needed. It provides a consistent standard across the country so no one can fall through the cracks.
If this measure or one like it is not considered and passed, the risk of the virus spreading increases because people who are worried about not getting paid so they can pay the mortgage or the electric bill or food shop. may chance to go to work if they start to exhibit the symptoms, not knowing what they have.
The same can be said for people who do not have health insurance. They may not go to the doctor because they can not afford the emergency room bill that will come after they go.
The United States is one of the FEW advanced nations that do not offer universal access to family and sick leave and quality/affordable health care.
Congress needs to pass a catastrophic health insurance as well as a paid family leave and sick bill measure for any large scale medical emergencies.
Unless Congress and the Trump Administration acts soon to plug that lack of access hole, the spread of the Coronavirus may accelerate because people can not afford to take the preventive steps necessary to stem the virus’s progress.
It could also throw this country into a major economic downtown that could take months or years to recover.
The time to act and take care of the people is now.
https://blogforarizona.net/democrats-in-congress-introduce-paid-family-and-sick-leave-bill-for-coronavirus-health-care-coverage-needs-to-follow/
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