Illinois Sick Days Access: Call for Narratives

I'm blowing some anonymity here, but it's worth it:

My agency is part of a coalition, led by Women Employed and including Heartland Alliance, working with lead sponsor Rep. Julie Hamos to change the fact that 3 million private sector workers don't have the right to a single sick day.

Our basic bill proposes a way for these workers to accrue 7 days of paid sick time over the course of one year. (For every 30 hours worked, a worker can earn 1 hour of paid sick time.)

The bill, HB 5320, has been introduced. There is support for this in the legislature but to move the bill out of Rules, through Labor, and towards a vote on the floor, we need more.

So we need stories.

We are looking for stories from people in Illinois who can talk about the need for paid sick days—either you used to work somewhere that didn’t have it when you needed it (and what happened), or you are currently working and don’t get paid sick days.

We’re looking for brief summaries that we could turn into a letter, use as part of legislative testimony, or perhaps include on a fact sheet.

If you have a story, or know someone in Illinois who does, email takeastand@ywcachicago.org.

You can, of course, request your story to be as anonymous as you want it to be (i.e., Marion, 27, Retail, Chicago.)

We hope you can help. (If you want to know more about how you can help lobby for this piece of legislation, you can send an email to that same address.)

[edited to remove Chicago Coalition for the Homeless as a coalition partner]