When you take a sick day from piece of work , you ’re not just saving yourself from misery — you’re also preventing colleagues from catching your condition . But allot to a new National Bureau of Economic Research ( NBER ) paper , The Wall StreetJournalreports , one-half of American workers are n’t granted compensated absences . This signify they end up going to work while ill . If they did get paid time off and were therefore able to stay home with the snuffle , the study ’s writer conclude , the worldwide flu rate would be greatly reduced [ PDF ] .
soul who do n’t have paid sick days are the hoi polloi who can least afford to forego a day ’s wages to bide in layer . According to Labor Department data from 2015 , only 31 percent of the lowest - earning quarter of individual - sector worker were granted paid sick leave . In contrast , 84 per centum of the highest - earning quarter had it .
Some cities and states , including Oregon , California , and Vermont , have passed pay sick day Pentateuch . To see if these measures really lowered incidents of public illness , NBER research worker comparedregions with yield nauseous leave to Google Flu data point from 2003 to 2015 . Their finding should n’t be too surprising to anyone who ’s combat a nasty office bug : AsThe Cutnotes , pay leave prevented 100 cases of grippe - like viruses each week for every 100,000 citizenry . Overall , that ’s a 6 percent lessening in flu type among the population level .
Of course , everyone ’s known a worker who ’s take a sick day even when they were n’t ill ( or you ’ve even done it once or twice yourself ) . NBER ’s paperdidfind that more healthy the great unwashed meet hooky from their jobs when they ’re granted pay sick leave . But still , the researchers point out , it ’s a tradeoff . Only 40 percent of mass in the UShave flu vaccination — and if they work while crazy , they ’re likely to taint others .
Have plenty of paid crazy days hive away up , and do n’t think this work lend oneself to you and your colleagues ? Think again . AsTimepoints out , many low - income workers who do n’t have access to pay up sick leave work in retail or food service . If you go shopping or eat at a restaurant , you might end up contracting the flu from them — not your cubicle Ilex paraguariensis .
[ h / tThe Wall Street Journal ]
Know of something you cerebrate we should wrap up ? netmail us attips@mentalfloss.com .
