(Nebraska News Connection) This year, 14 states and even more cities required employers to provide some form of paid sick leave.

Supporters of the Paid Sick Leave for Nebraskans ballot initiative are hoping voters will add Nebraska to the list in the 2024 election. Women, low-wage earners and workers of color disproportionately lack paid sick leave, and it's more often women who take time off when family members are ill.

Jo Giles, executive director of the Women's Fund of Omaha, an initiative sponsor, said having to balance wanting to be a great employee with caregiving needs at home can be stressful.

"We end up being in this dual role as a caregiver," Giles observed. "Having this flexibility to take time off to care for a loved one and also be able to get your same income level just reduces that burden."

About 250,000 working Nebraskans lack paid sick leave. Under the proposal, employees would accrue one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours of work. Businesses offering benefits equal to or better than this would be exempt, along with union members and state, county and federal employees.

Those opposed to mandatory sick leave claim it leads to layoffs and businesses closing, although studies do not support the claim.

Giles stressed the plan is not about being given time off, but earning it. The law would not go into effect until October 2025.

"That was intentional on our part," Giles explained. "Because we wanted to give businesses ample time to be able to adjust, so that they could implement a process for tracking the time and for accrual, and how all of that would work for their employees."

Rural workers are also less likely to receive paid time off.

Joseline Reyna, a community organizer with the YWCA of Grand Island, another initiative sponsor, said it can be seen in the communities around Grand Island.

"A lot of the people here work in restaurants or different industries, so they don't have the certain criteria that they have to meet with paid time off," Reyna pointed out. "Sometimes it could be harder for the people in our community to get that time off, because of the type of work they're doing."

Lacking paid sick leave can also contribute to people working while they're sick. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found roughly 40% of food poisoning incidents in a two-year period were attributable to sick workers. And during the pandemic, concern rose "frontline" and "essential" workers who lacked sick leave might spread the virus.  

Sierra Edmisten, a single working mother of four in Hastings, knows firsthand the struggles of needing time off for a child's medical appointments. She called it "heartbreaking" to be leaving a job she loves because it does not provide paid sick leave, but she is delighted her new job will. 

"To have that is probably the most rewarding, beneficial thing I can think of in life," Edmisten asserted. "To be able to focus on my children and not be stressed."