In Low-Wage Jobs, Working While Black Means Showing Up Sick

Because they were deemed essential workers, grocery store clerks got paid sick leave — temporarily. Now, they’re forced ot make a tough choice: work while they or a loved one are sick, or lose a day’s pay. (Credit: MART PRODUCTION/Pexels) This article was originally published on& Word In Black. By Jennifer Porter Gore Overview: The states that mandated paid sick or family leave for hourly workers are in mostly-white states. Given that nearly 20% of low-wage workers are Black, that means they are disproportionately more likely to live in an area where they can’t care for themselves or their loved ones if they fall ill during the work week. & In 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress passed a temporary law that allowed employees, who are disproportionately Black and Latino, to claim up to two weeks of paid sick leave for pandemic-related illness. For the first time, low-wage workers had access to sick leave for themselves or to care for loved ones.& Eight years earlier, several states and the District of Columbia had enacted laws requiring employers to allow workers to earn paid sick time. However, the pandemic revealed how much the lack of paid sick days...