Provide Temporary Paid Sick Leave for Parents to Care for Children with H1N1

Over 11 million children under age 5 are in some type of child care setting every week while their parents work. With flu season approaching, children under age 5 are at greatest risk for getting and sharing the flu. They are also at risk for serious complications. 

It is possible that millions of parents will have to stay home to care for children who get the flu. For most, this is likely to mean 3-5 days off from work. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC)  recommends that when someone in the household comes down with flu-like symptoms, that all children in the household stay home both in an effort to see if the flu runs through the family and reduce the spread of an illness that experts estimate could kill between 30,000 and 90,000 people.

For parents who live paycheck to paycheck without paid sick leave, staying home is not so simple. These families need every dime and will have tough choices to make. 

President Obama could help these families. Congress provided nearly $6 billion in emergency funds that the President could tap for temporary paid sick leave for parents who need to stay home with their children during a potential flu epidemic. To reduce the spread of H1N1, parents need to stay home to care for their children. President Obama can help make that happen by giving parents the means to take time off from work.

Send an email today to President Obama. Urge him to use the flu emergency funds to provide temporary paid sick leave to parents so that they can stay home to care for their children.  He has the means. Parents without paid sick leave do not.