Question 4 concerns how much sick time employees can earn. It rewrites the current laws and allows employees to earn and use “sick” time following certain guidelines. Voting yes changes the current laws, voting no keeps them how they are. 

 

Sick time allows people to take time off of work while still getting paid for their time off. Employees get a certain number of sick days per year based on how long they have been employed, how many hours they work, and other factors. Not all workers are currently able to earn sick time. The new law only allows all workers to have EPST (earned paid sick time) but the time can only be used for certain things, such as if a person or their family member is sick or injured, or of they need to attend a medical appointment. There would be limits set on how many sick time hours can be earned. 

 

Voting Yes benefits Massachusetts workers by letting them earn up to 40 hours of paid sick day time per year. This time off can be taken for health reasons, such as if they are sick or need to take care of a sick family member. For every 30 hours a person works they can earn 1 hour of sick time, so for example after working 60 hours they earn 2 hours of sick time. However, a person can only start using their sick time after working for 90 days at a new job. Often times hard working people have to choose between taking care of themselves and their family or earning money by going to work. This law makes it so they do not have to make that choice, because they can be paid while still taking time off from work to stay healthy and they do not have to go to work sick.

 

Voting No would save small business owners money. Each business is unique so they each have different amounts of employees that they need. Some businesses have to find a substitute to fill in for a person who calls in sick. Having to pay the sick person for their sick time costs the business double because they have to pay both the substitute and the sick person. However, in some jobs everyone else can just pick up the slack of the sick person which would not cost a company extra money because they are not paying anyone they would not normally pay. Passing Question 4 would require small businesses to follow mandatory sick time guidelines that they may not be able to afford. 

 

**In the chart below EPST refers to Earned Paid Sick Time of employees in Massachusetts