My personal care attendants are, for the most part, men and women of extraordinary dedication. I expect that dedication, I am grateful for it, and I need it, because the work that they do is critical for my life. As such, I often ask them not to call in unnecessarily. Finding coverage, especially on short notice, is difficult, and going uncovered isn’t an option, unless I want to end up dead or seriously ill. As I explain to them, this is not the type of job to which to call in just because you are having a bad day, or feeling a little off. That said, I also make it very clear that I don’t want them to work if they are truly sick. It’s not good for me, in that I might get sick. It’s not good for me, in that they might get more seriously sick, and become unable to help in the future. Mostly, it’s not good for me because I find the idea of forcing a sick person to work to be inhumane, and to make a mockery of the very dedication that they show me by working. And yet, every time it happens, we are faced with a horrible dilemma.
The lack of paid sick leave in this country is as horrible as it is nearly universal. A brief overview of attitudes and issues can be found in this July 28 article by Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell, celebrating a new New York City law to the contrary. Describing the economic incentives behind the issue, Rampell says colorfully:
As you can imagine, most employees who arrive at work after puking their guts out don’t do so cheerily. They knowingly put others’ health at risk for two key reasons. One is that they can’t afford to miss a shift. The other is that they fear getting fired for the great sin of missing work because of illness. And in most of the country, businesses can fire workers for missing work, regardless of the reason.
Now, let’s stipulate that I would not fire my employees for calling in sick. That said, I am provided a fixed number of hours by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts with which to pay personal care attendants. Even assuming that the program allowed me to use those hours for sick time (it almost certainly does not), I would need to use those hours to hire a substitute for the sick attendant. Thus, I and my employee are stuck. One or both of us will suffer. Either they will come in sick, and we will both suffer, or I will mandate that they stay home, and they take a financial hit.
The New York law, which appears to be limited to employers of five employees or more, will not address this issue. By creating a carveout broad enough for personal care, the Legislature relieves state payors of the obligation to pay this important benefit. Thus, my New York counterparts remain powerless to provide it. It is yet another case where people with disabilities need to oppose that which is best for them and their workers because the alternative is to do without necessary services. A similar situation arises with regard to mandatory overtime, as I discuss in an earlier post.
In Massachusetts, we have the power to change this. On Election Day 2014, ballot question number four will be put before the voters. I leave the full text of the question for you to peruse, but the most important feature is that the bill specifically addresses personal care. Recognizing the importance of this category of employee, the ballot question solves this in the best way that I’ve ever seen.
It makes sick time available to all employees, though, presumably to protect small businesses, only requires paid sick time for businesses of 11 employees or more. Then, the master stroke.
For almost all purposes, PCAs are considered employees of the consumer, and this is very important. For this initiative, every PCA under a State program is considered an employee of a particular state department. Not only does this meet the 11 employee threshold, but it makes it very clear that it is the State’s responsibility to provide compensation for that time. If this measure passes, every PCA in Massachusetts will be entitled paid sick time accrued at the appropriate rate and every consumer will be certain that that pay does not reduce the number of hours that they are allowed.
If you live in Massachusetts, I encourage you to vote for this. If you do not live in Massachusetts, but you care about justice for this important population of workers, use the link proposal as a template in advocate for it in your state. Let us do a little more for these workers that do so much for us.
