New Report Shows 4 of 10 St. Paul Workers Lack Paid Sick Time Access

For Immediate Release — February 1, 2016

Contact: Greta Bergstrom, 651.336.6722, greta@takeactionminnesota.org

As City of Saint Paul Ramps Up Earned Sick Days Discussion, New Report Shows, Four Out of Ten Workers in Capitol City Lack Access to Paid Sick Time

St. Paul, MN – On Thursday, TakeAction Minnesota and the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) released a new analysis, detailing access rates to earned sick time in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The new report, which can be downloaded here, breaks data down by gender, race/ethnicity, occupation, hours worked, and earnings level.  Overall, the report concludes that across the Saint Paul workforce, forty-two percent lack access to even a single day of earned sick time off. Lack of access disproportionately affects low-wage, service-sector, and part-time workers, and workers of color in Saint Paul.

Jessica Milli, Study Director at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, reviewed key findings from the analysis. Milli said, “The findings in Saint Paul follow the same patterns as those in Minneapolis. Workers who are the most economically vulnerable in Saint Paul are workers of color, driving inequity in the city. There is a huge earned sick time access disparity between workers of color and white workers in Saint Paul, and these workers are also the least able to afford being sick.”

The analysis found that while fifty-eight percent of Saint Paul workers currently have access to earned sick time benefits, access is not uniformly distributed across populations. Key findings include:

• Overall, approximately seventy-two thousand two hundred workers (forty-two percent) in Saint Paul lack access to earned sick time benefits;
• Fifty-five percent of Latino workers in Saint Paul lack access to earned sick time benefits, followed by fifty-three percent of African-American workers and forty-seven percent of Asian workers. This stands in contrast to the thirty-seven percent of white workers who lack access to earned sick time, underscoring the wide racial disparities present;
• Service workers—in particular, those in food preparation, hospitality, restaurant service, child care, personal care and other service occupations—are least likely to have access to earned sick time benefits, with only thirty-four percent having access. These service workers have frequent and close contact with the public driving unnecessary public health risks;
• Earned sick time is particularly rare for Saint Paul workers clocking fewer than thirty-five hours per week, with only one in four part-time workers having access to earned sick time
• A full eighty-six percent of full-time Saint Paul workers in the highest earnings brackets—those making over $65,000 annually—have access to earned sick time, while only 53 percent of full-time workers in the lowest earnings bracket—those making $35,000 or less annually — have access to earned sick time benefits.

Milli said she believes in addition to the stark racial disparities present in the earned sick debate, “one of the most worrying findings is the huge public health risk borne by those with frequent interaction with customers. Only thirty-four percent of service workers – including child care workers and food service workers – have earned sick time access.”

Joining Milli on the call was Pastor Javen Swanson, of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Saint Paul’s Highland Park neighborhood. Swanson believes the issue of workers lacking access to paid sick time is something that can, and must, be solved now. “Clergy serve the least among us and those individuals happen to be workers least likely to have access to paid sick time and least likely to be able to afford taking a day off without pay. Earned sick time is a concrete proposal that would lift four out of ten workers in Saint Paul. I can tell you there aren’t a lot of things clergy across a diverse array of denominations and faith communities agreed on. But earned sick time is one thing we’re pretty united on.”

Anna Wetroski, a part-time box office employee with the Ordway in downtown Saint Paul, as well as an usher at Saint Paul’s Fitzgerald Theater, shared her insight on the need for Saint Paul to ensure all workers have access to earning sick time off with pay. Wetroski worked for years in the restaurant industry, and full-time for a Saint Paul chemical dependency treatment center, prior to her current jobs. “Despite working in a variety of occupational settings, I’ve never had access to paid time off when sick. And I’ve had to juggle monthly rent, school loan and health care insurance premium payments. I know I can’t afford missing pay when sick. But it’s so much worse for my colleagues with kids to support.”

The report, prepared by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, analyzes data from the 2012-2014 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and the 2012-2014 IPUMS American Community Survey (ACS).

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