Question

The U.S. does not have federal laws mandating paid sick leave for employees, but there is a major push from workers' rights groups to make it mandatory. A few cities and states have passed laws making paid sick leave a non-discretionary benefit for certain types of employees. What are the pros and cons for employers and employees of paid sick leave? Do you think it should be a non-discretionary benefit for everyone?

Answer 1

Paid sick leave is meant to help employees to take a certain number of days off for either personal or family illness. it brings both advantages and disadvantages for both employers and employees.

Pros:

• It could mitigate the disruptive environment due to one’s illness at workplace
• The illness would not be escalated if its it is treated beforehand while on leave
• Employee turnover rate would be less as in case of severity of illness
• It would lead to higher productivity of employees
• It promotes a better work-life balance.

Cons:

• Employees may use it as a benefit and use all of the time off as their vacation time.
• Employers may provide few days for overall leaves than they provide earlier.

If in case of sick pay schemes the payments are made as per employer’s discretion, it must be ensured that their decision is free from discrimination of one category of employee over another. discretion can be on the basis of reason of absence which is unjustified