We, the undersigned organizations, urge you to support the Healthy Families Act, a common sense bill that would allow workers to earn up to seven paid sick days a year to recover from short-term illnesses like the flu, access preventive care, care for a sick family member or seek assistance related to domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking. Without paid sick days, workers are forced to make impossible choices when illness strikes: stay home, lose pay and risk their jobs; or go to work sick, risk their health and spread disease to their co-workers and communities. Paid sick days keep families financially secure, workplaces and communities healthy and productive, and businesses and the economy strong.

At least 43 million private sector workers in the United States cannot earn paid sick days to use when they get sick.1 Millions more cannot earn time to care for a sick child or family member.2 Unpaid days off have real consequences. For a family without paid sick days, on average, 3.1 days of pay lost to illness are equivalent to the family’s entire monthly health care budget, and 3.5 days are equivalent to its entire monthly grocery budget.