9to5 Atlanta Forms Flexible Sick Days Committee

The 9to5 Flexible Sick Days Committee will focus its efforts on passing Georgia House Bill 432, the Georgia Flexible Sick Days Act. This bill will allow workers to use existing employer-provided sick days for the illness of immediate family members as well as their own.

The committee, made up of 9to5 members, decided that they will focus on reaching out to small-business owners, both finding business owners who already have flexible sick day policies in place and educating those that don’t about the positive effects of flexible policies like that outlined in HB 432.

Nationwide, only 30 percent of workers with paid sick days can use that time to care for sick children.  For those workers who can’t use sick days to care for family members, a sick child creates a crisis, often forcing a parent to send their child to school while ill or lie to their employer about why they need time off.  Sending children to school even when they’re ill also negatively impacts public health, and often increases the amount of time it takes a sick child to recover.

The next meeting of the Flexible Sick Days Committee will be Tuesday, June 6.  If you are interested in becoming a member of the committee, please contact Charmaine Davis at charmaine@9to5.org or 404-222-0037.

Photo courtesy of the Atlanta Journal Constitution