A Report on the Distribution of Selected Employment Benefits of Older Workers

Abstract

Vigorous legislative activity is taking place regarding paid sick leave. Most existing research measures paid sick days autonomously without also considering other benefits such as flexible work and paid vacation. This descriptive study of a nationally representative sample of 4428 adult male workers finds 77.1% of workers have a combination of paid sick leave, flexible work, and vacation, while only 16.8% have just one of the three benefits. Future research should examine the correlates of combined benefit packages in terms of workers’ physical, emotional and financial health and wellbeing. Nationally representative data collection efforts should refine the measurement of workplace benefit variable to allow for these comparisons. Introduction Access to paid sick leave, vacation time, and flexible work can be an important support for American workers as they struggle to balance the responsibilities of their jobs, families, and health 1 2 3. Campaigns for mandating paid sick leave across the country have been snowballing over the past few years with 10 states, Washington DC, and 33 municipalities passing legislation mandating between 3 and 9 days of paid sick leave 4. At the same time, 15 states have passed legislation that preemptively blocks paid sick leave mandates 5. Legislation at the federal level (the Healthy Families Act) has been proposed in the past several Congressional sessions. It would have mandated paid sick leave of up to 7 days at employers with more than 15 employees and 7 unpaid days if they work at smaller companies (S. 636 & H.R. 1516, 2018). The bills stalled; however, and American workers still have no federal guarantee of any paid time off work (vacation or sick). The only federal law that allows for protected leave is the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which provides unpaid leave (up to 12 weeks) after the birth or adoption of a child or for one’s own illness or a close family member’s health care crisis. There are also no federally mandated policies on vacation time in the United States Fair Labor Standards Act. Access to vacation time is considered a discretionary workplace fringe benefit and often increases with seniority at a workplace. Americans are also known for not taking their vacation days leaving millions of days unused across the country. Flexible work is also not a workplace right but rather a scenario that is often offered at the pleasure of individuals employers and even supervisors. In order to really understand how any of these benefits might impact employees, researchers need to begin to analyze all three benefits together (sick leave, vacation time and flexible work options).