Health Experts Demand Paid Leave Before Schools Reopen
Hundreds of health experts are cautioning the Trump administration against reopening schools in the fall without the federal government first establishing a paid leave program for all American workers.
More than 500 health professionals signed a letter calling for universal paid family and sick leave, which was sent on Monday to the White House, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar. The letter, which was organized through the Paid Leave for All campaign, urges the Trump officials to push Congress to expand the emergency paid leave policy that was enacted earlier during the coronavirus pandemic.
“As public health professionals and organizations dedicated to protecting the public’s health, we know that access to comprehensive paid leave is critical to being able to safely return to in-person instruction,” the letter reads. “We write to urge the administration and Congress to ensure universal access to emergency paid sick leave and paid family and medical leave through 2021.”
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which Congress passed in March, provides funding for up to two weeks of paid sick days, plus 10 weeks of paid emergency child care leave if schools or child care facilities are shut down. (Parents and care givers can take an additional two weeks of unpaid emergency child care leave.) But this paid leave program is set to expire at the end of this year.
The current policy also excludes all workers at companies with more than 500 employees, leaving millions of front-line workers — like those at big grocery store chains — without leave protections. The letter calls on lawmakers to end the exemption of large companies.
Health experts are concerned that without a comprehensive paid leave program, millions of people will face financial pressure to continue going to work even if they begin to experience COVID-19 symptoms. And while reopening schools should ease the burden on many parents,...
