The new sick leave law doesn’t help the workers that need it most

The Families First Coronavirus Emergency Response Act passed the Senate on March 18, and was signed into law by President Trump. The “phase 2” bill was one of the first moves by Congress in reaction to the coronavirus outbreak and aimed to extend sick leave to vulnerable U.S. workers, along with other financial benefits.

Nearly a quarter of U.S. workers don’t have access to paid sick leave, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For many of these workers, like waiters and waitresses, the federally mandated leave comes too late, as layoffs from social distancing measures have spiked.

But many parts of the retail industry — such as grocery stores, pharmacies and gas stations — will likely remain open, declared “essential” by such cities as Philadelphia that have instituted shelter-in-place policies. Workers at these businesses will come into contact with the most people, and if they don’t already have paid sick leave, the new law is unlikely to help.

Most essential workers are at companies too big or too small to gain sick leave

The law extends paid sick leave to workers diagnosed with or in quarantine for covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. However, the guarantee only applies to employers with more than 50 and fewer than 500 employees. Many essential industries have few companies of that size.

Only 12 percent of workers in essential industries work for companies that will be guaranteed coverage by the bill. The problem is particularly acute for general merchandise companies, such as Target and Walmart. According to the latest estimates from the Census Bureau, 98 percent of workers in the general merchandise industry work for a business that is too large to be eligible for paid sick leave under the new law.

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Banks and grocery stores also employ millions of workers that won’t be affected by the new law.

Grocery and general merchandise businesses too large for workers to gain sick leave

Paid sick leave is nearly universal in other industrialized countries: In a review of 22 countries with high standards of living, only the United States and Japan did not guarantee paid sick days for short-term illness.

The broad aim of the sick leave law was to make sure that workers infected with the virus would stay home without losing their income. This was especially important for workers in fields with lots of contact with customers or at-risk individuals.

Nationwide, 29 percent of private industry workers did not have paid sick leave in 2018. That figure was much higher for certain vulnerable industries.

Workers that interact with the most people often don’t have sick leave

However, even employees with paid sick leave worry about their exposure risks from customers. Alayna, an assistant manager at Lowe’s Home Improvement who asked that her last name be withheld to protect her job, said that the hardware stores are busier than ever, but employees who work closely with customers do not have access to hand sanitizer and may not be able to wash their hands.

“You have to go across a very large building to wash your hands in the bathroom.” she said, “and if you get a customer service call, you have to go back. There is only so long a customer can wait.”

Although Home Depot has shortened hours to allow for deep cleaning, Lowe’s is still open to customers from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Lowes does not plan to change its hours. “People are nervous,” Alayna said.

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If a worker does fall ill, sick leave is only part of the story. Another benefit in the new law is free coronavirus testing for all Americans, even if uninsured. When an uninsured worker needs care though, they’d likely still be on the hook.

According to the Census Bureau, 16 million workers did not have health insurance at the time of the 2018 American Community Survey. That’s 10 percent of all workers. This coverage gap is a critical difference between the U.S. health-care system and that of other industrialized countries like Canada, which guarantees care for all its citizens.

Ten percent of American workers are uninsured, but some public-facing occupations have much higher uninsurance rates.

Many essential employees are also uninsured

Forty percent of uninsured workers are in occupations that involve serving the general public and close physical contact with others, according to the Occupational Information Network (O*NET). For instance, more than 1.7 million sales workers and 600,000 health-care support workers are uninsured.

For workers that have already been laid off, the most important aid is likely to come in “phase 3” of the government’s coronavirus response. That’s the proposal that could send direct payments of $1,000 or more to all Americans regardless of employment status. Until that becomes law, unemployed workers are doing what they can to get by.

“I’m hoping I can make it through on food stamps and hoping the city government will do something to address rent,” said Chad, a waiter who spoke to the Washington Post about being laid off. “If the worst happens … I can’t go there yet. I have to take it as it comes.”