IMO: America deserves to take a sick day

In the U.S., it is treated as normal to attend work despite being sick and a potential danger to others. 

COVID-19 made us realize we must now be much more careful about how we treat illness in the U.S. The idea of living while there is a pandemic has become dangerously normalized. While many think the pandemic is over the number of reported cases and hospitalizations have remained the same since 2021.

This problem of working while sick stems from American capitalism. It also stems from the idea that missing a day of work is not worth the money lost that day. Capitalism has seeped its way into our lives and affects us in every aspect of our lives. It is an ideology where an obsession with productivity trumps all. It is a measure of how we have attached too much of our identity to our jobs. It contributes to further destroying our work-life balance.

For many, a day’s paycheck is worth more than their health. For some, paid sick leave is not an option.  

In at-will states such as Texas, employers can fire anyone without justification, meaning not showing up to work due to illness that would not prevent one from working is liable to get you fired. In many states, paid sick leave is not even guaranteed. There is currently no federal law that requires paid or unpaid sick leave. Only 16 U.S. states have laws requiring paid sick leave for their employees. Texas is not one of them. The United States and the Republic of Korea are the only Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations that do not guarantee paid leave for personal illness.

Paid sick leave should be a right, not a privilege.

The idea of pressuring employees to attend work while sick is also ableist and puts those that have weaker or compromised immune systems at risk. Often times those who are immunocompromised are forgotten about when it comes to common illnesses. A common cold or the flu could be much more dangerous and possibly deadly to those who are at higher risk. Currently, 45.4% of the U.S. population is considered at-risk for COVID-19.

This is an issue in higher-income professions because working from home has also become more of a norm. The expectation of working and attending meetings through zoom while sick is something we should never expect people to do. As humans, we never expect anyone that is sick to do anything for us. Why do we expect them to work? Lower-income workers usually do not have the ability to work from home like this and end up getting sick at a higher rate than those who can work from home. Part-time employees are also often not given the same benefits as full-time employees in the state of Texas since it is legal to have separate benefits between part-time and full-time employees.

Sickness will always be an issue in our lives whether it is us or our family members. The pandemic made us used to working at home and now our home is our workplace.