Paid Sick Leave Gaps Draw States’ Attention as Virus Persists

The gaps in paid sick leave availability are getting a fresh look from state lawmakers, as worker advocates and public health experts continue pushing paid leave as a tool to quell the surging 5-month-old Covid-19 pandemic.

Lawmakers in California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, and Pennsylvania are considering new or revised mandates to fill the gaps in emergency paid sick leave left by the exemptions in the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which one policy group has estimated exempts the employers of 100 million workers. These proposals follow a handful of other states that already extended virus-specific paid leave via legislation ...