Study: Majority favor paid sick days

WASHINGTON, June 21 (UPI) -- A majority of the U.S. public favors at least some paid sick leave for workers, a recent study found.

But the survey sponsored by the Public Welfare Foundation in Washington found that paid sick days were less available than other worker benefits.

Sixty-four percent of workers indicated they had paid sick day benefits associated with their jobs, while 72 percent indicated they had dental insurance and 68 percent indicated they had life insurance policies available through work.

Eighty-one percent indicated health insurance was available.

The survey also found "Americans overwhelmingly view paid sick days as a basic labor standard," said Tom Smith, a senior fellow at the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, where the survey was conducted.

The survey found a "strong majority of people in every racial group, every income level, every age group, every part of the country and both political parties see paid sick days as a basic worker right," said Public Welfare Foundation President Deborah Leff.

Predictably, the study found more workers without sick days as a benefit -- 55 percent -- indicated they went to work with a contagious disease, than the 37 percent who are granted paid sick days.