Now that newly passed healthcare reform legislation in Washington promises to extend coverage to tens of millions nationwide, activists in New York City want to make sure sick workers aren’t prevented by their bosses from taking care of their health.

As we’ve reported before, on the local and national level, the struggle for paid sick leave runs parallel to the health care reform movement, merging workplace justice with the right to universal access. The policy—yet another area where the United States differs from its Western industrialized counterparts—would allow some time off from work for sickness or to care for an ill child, without being penalized in lost wages. The initiative has evoked winces of pain from New York’s business lobby, who feared the impact on employers in the midst of a recession.
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