Gillibrand Pushes Nationwide Paid Sick Leave Bill as 27 Million U.S. Workers Still Wait

Expanding paid sick leave nationwide could offer New York a test case in balancing worker security and economic pragmatism.

The arithmetic is stark. Some 27 million Americans, or nearly a fifth of the private sector workforce, lack any paid sick leave. In New York City—where the obligation to hustle seldom pauses for ill health—this gap bodes ill not only for the unwell, but also for those with whom they share crowded subway cars and open-plan offices.

Enter Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who on June 12th introduced the Healthy Families Act in the United States Senate. The measure, co-sponsored by Bernie Sanders and backed by a bevy of unions from AFL-CIO to TWU, seeks to guarantee paid sick leave to all American workers. “No one should have to choose between a paycheck and caring for a loved one or themselves,” Ms Gillibrand declared. Her legislation aims to correct what supporters term a glaring omission in the American social contract: the absence, at the national level, of any guarantee for sick pay.

For New York City, which enacted its own paid sick leave law in 2014, the federal push may seem redundant. But roughly 850,000 New Yorkers—disproportionately in low-wage private-sector and gig economy jobs—remain outside that local safety net. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, just 58% of low-income, private-sector workers in America as a whole can access sick days. For those at the city’s economic margins, a cold or a family emergency still too often means lost wages, mounting debts, or a fateful choice between health and subsistence.

The implications are not merely individual, but civic. Studies cited by Ms Gillibrand’s office suggest that access to paid sick leave lowers workplace injuries by 28% and reduces employee turnover by a quarter—a welcome prospect in sectors already grappling with fraught labor markets. Reduced turnover can mean more experienced restaurant staff, steadier subway operators, and safer hospitals, all of which portend benefits that radiate well beyond individual households.

The broader economic effects are more ambiguous, particularly for small businesses. Critics warn that a federal requirement would raise costs for already fragile shops and service outlets. The National Federation of Independent Business has previously estimated that mandatory paid sick leave could depress hiring or force puny enterprises to raise prices. Yet evidence from New York and San Francisco, both with established sick-leave regimes, is less alarming: research by the Center for Economic and Policy Research found no significant drag on job growth, and workers spend their earned sick days sparingly—typically fewer than five days per year.

Politically, the move arms Democrats with a resonant talking point in an election year marred by galloping inflation and strikes for better pay. Mayor Eric Adams has pressed for stronger local enforcement; Governor Kathy Hochul touts New York’s modestly broader statewide mandate. Republican officeholders remain, for the most part, either wary or opposed, echoing the concern that uniform rules in a wildly heterogeneous nation risk damaging regions less buoyant than Manhattan.

New Yorkers, whose city survived both the September 11th attacks and the COVID-19 pandemic, may view federal sick pay as overdue. The early months of 2020 offered a vivid tutorial in the perils of ill workers reporting for duty to keep the lights on in grocery stores and hospitals. Public health, in cities as dense as this, is never entirely private. The urban premium on proximity transforms individual health slips into collective risk. Data after New York’s 2014 law showed a noticeable dip in workplace illnesses and contagion.

National laggards and global leaders

The United States stands nearly alone among its peers. Most Western countries require employers to provide some form of paid sick leave: France, Sweden, and Australia, for example, mandate at least two weeks. America’s tardiness is not for lack of effort—254 paid sick-leave bills have been introduced in Congress since 2004, only for most to wither under the weight of business opposition and legislative sclerosis.

Yet, the New York model, combining state law with municipal enhancement, demonstrates a plausible way forward. It offers a carve-out for the smallest businesses, cushions low-wage workers, and, crucially, comes with modest compliance costs. The city’s experience suggests that universalism, carefully designed, need not undercut ambition or innovation. For all the complaints about “red tape,” enforcement costs remain modest: New York City’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection enforces the benefit with a staff of fewer than 50.

However, universal sick pay—like all entitlements—carries risk of unintended consequences. Some employers may cut hours or resort to contract work to sidestep obligations, portending a world of fissured work arrangements. Policymakers must be vigilant; careful calibration, periodic review, and flexibility for small employers will be essential.

Internationally, America’s reluctance to provide sick pay causes bemusement. The OECD ranks the United States last among rich countries in several worker protections. Senator Sanders, never one to understate, calls the absence an “international embarrassment.” We are inclined to agree—in part. Economic dynamism depends, in the end, on workers who are healthy enough to show up at full tilt. Public outlays for illness—be it in Medicaid for the uninsured or lost productivity—ultimately exceed private employer costs.

Is paid sick leave a panacea for all New York’s socio-economic woes? Clearly not. But as grocery bills and rents rise, so does the value of an assured safety net for those who keep the city running: nurses and waitresses, bus drivers and doormen. In cities where missing a paycheck is one slip from eviction, stability is a virtue.

For New Yorkers, then, Congress’s debate offers more than grandstanding or policy symbolism. It will determine whether work in America’s first city—echoing the expectations of so many global peers—finally comes with the dignity of paid time to recover. As with so much in New York, the devil is in the details, but the benefits are there for the taking. ■