“To not have an employer or government helping with that, it’s frightening, it’s cruel and it’s really unnecessary because we know we can make it work not just because other countries have been doing it for decades, but there are workable plans and so many other states are adopting it.” As she got stronger, we felt better about it, but there were struggles for all of us,” said Phelps. We didn’t really know what was going to happen. Neither of them had any paid leave to keep their jobs and income. Nija Phelps of Milford, Connecticut, a Paid Leave for All advocate, became involved in the campaign after she and her husband had to quit their jobs and move to Michigan in 2013 to care for her mother-in-law, who was recovering from heart surgery. ![]() We have to be paid and we can’t afford not to be paid.”Ī campaign of workers, small and large business owners and activists has been pushing Congress to pass a federal paid leave policy and also fighting to enact paid leave at the local level. “Working during the pandemic has been extremely stressful for us,” said Gonzales. Through the pandemic, she’s had to fight to receive paid time off for quarantining while her son was hospitalized from Covid-19, and even went into work recently while sick. Veronica Gonzales works two jobs, one at Taco Bell and the other at the fast-food chain Jack in the Box, in Alameda, California. When the global pandemic hit, we weren’t prepared and one of the first things Congress did was put into place a temporary paid leave law, knowing it would save lives and jobs.” “The pandemic put into focus what a crisis this has been in the making. “It’s something we should have had in place years ago,” said Dawn Huckelbridge, director of Paid Leave for All, a campaign of several organizations advocating for a federal paid leave policy for medical and family issues. Though government action like the Cares Act and American Rescue Plan Act expanded paid sick leave to millions of workers in the US, paid leave advocates and workers are now pushing for a permanent solution, as the US is the only major nation in the world without a federal paid leave policy. “When I left the hospital I still was getting these horrible muscular pains all over my body, these terrible headaches and a hoarseness in my throat, but I can’t miss any work because they’re not going to pay me for my days off.” ![]() “I was worried about my bills, because it doesn’t matter if you’re sick or not, you still have to pay the bills,” said Jimenez. While out sick from work, she didn’t receive any sick leave compensation from her employer because it was exempt from the federal paid leave requirement. While working as an essential worker during the pandemic, Jimenez contracted Covid-19 in late December 2020 and spent several days in the hospital. ![]() Esperanza Jimenez, a janitor in the Miami area for an office cleaning contractor, lives with her son and his three daughters, and relies on her income to send money to her 90-year-old mother in Nicaragua.
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