Category: Public Policy and Advocacy

Take Action for Paid Sick + Safe Days!

Use our template to write a letter to your legislator explaining why they need to vote YES on SB 7: An Act Concerning Connecticut Paid Sick Days. 

Use this link to find your legislator.

Paid Sick and Safe Days Fact Sheet
a photo of someone typing on the computer in the background with a purple filter over the image. a blue circle over the photo with the text "Write Your Legislator: Vote Yes on SB 7. Pass SB 7: An Action Concerning Paid Sick Days"

2 ways to use this template:

  1. Download the PDF
  2. Print it out and complete the letter with your words!
  3. Mail the completed letter to She Leads Justice and we will get it to the capitol!
    Mailing address:
    She Leads Justice
    PO Box 320460
    Hartford, CT 06132

OR

  1. Download the PDF
  2. Complete the letter using your computer or smartphone, and save it or take a photo of it!
  3. Use the form below to upload your letter, or email it to info@sheleadsjustice.org and we will print it and get it to the capitol!
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Download the template in Spanish

Paid Sick Days: How does Connecticut Compare?

Expanding Connecticut’s Paid Sick Days will:

  • Cover all workers by removing the employer size threshold and lengthy definition of “service worker” in current law. It would require all employers, regardless of size or industry, to provide paid sick time.
  • Bring our eligibility and accrual rate in line with what businesses in our neighboring states provide their workers. Workers will be eligible to use their paid sick time 100 days after employment begins and accrue 1 hour for every 30 hours worked for a minimum of 40 hours of paid sick time per year
  • Expand the definition of family to allow workers to take paid sick days to care for a child of any age, spouse, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, or parent. Workers will also be able to take time to care for other loved ones if they are/were the parental figure in their lives or vice versa.
  • Extend access to Safe Days so workers can take care of a family member who experiences family violence or sexual assault.
Printable Version

By The Numbers:

The Executive Branch is supportive of the funding for expanding paid sick days!

Carveouts in Connecticut’s current law exclude 88% of our workforce from the guaranteed right to paid sick days

This amounts to 1.6 million workers without the time they need to heal, recover, or care for their families.

How does Connecticut compare across our region on paid sick days?

State: Connecticut (2011)
Employer size: 50 or more

Family Definition:
Can care for spouse and child up to 18

Waiting Period to Take Sick Time:
After working 680 hours and an average of 10 hours/week in the most recent quarter.
Covered Workers and Hours:
Certain service workers can use up to 40 hours per year of paid sick time.

State: Rhode Island (2018)
Employer size: 18 or more

Covered Workers and Hours:
ALL workers can use up to 40 hours per year of paid sick time!
Family Definition:
Can care for an inclusive definition of family

Waiting Period to Take Sick Time:
After 90 days from commencement of employment (waiting period is longer for temporary workers)

State: Massachusetts (2015)
Employer size: 11 or more

Covered Workers and Hours:
ALL workers can use up to 40 hours per year of paid sick time!
Family Definition:
Can care for child, spouse, parent/in-law

Waiting Period to Take Sick Time:
Entitled to use after 90 days from commencement of employment

State: New York (2020)
Employer size: ALL employers

Covered Workers and Hours:
ALL workers can use up to 56 hours per year of paid sick time!
Family Definition:
Can care for an inclusive definition of family

Waiting Period to Take Sick Time:
Entitled to use at the commencement of employment. Paid sick time can used as it is accrued 

States that recently passed strong and inclusive paid sick days laws:

Colorado

  • Covers all workers in Colorado
  • Provides 48 hours per year + up to 80 hours in the case of a public health emergency
  • Inclusive definition of family

  • Covers all workers in New Mexico
  • Provides 64 hours per year
  • Inclusive definition of family

2024 Legislative Agenda

SLJ LegAgenda For Web

Challenges and Opportunities for Change

Decades of systemic racism, sexism, and economic injustice have burdened Connecticut women and prevented our economy from operating at its fullest potential. We must work with urgency to center the lived experiences, needs, and wisdom of Black women, women of color, and women living with poverty in all policy decisions. We need policy change that is explicitly anti-racist and anti-sexist, with a justice and reparations lens.

2024 AGENDA LEGISLATIVA
Printable Version

Primary Legislative Priority in 2024

Paid Sick and Safe Days

She Leads Justice leads the Paid Sick Days Coalition. Connecticut was first in the nation to require paid sick days. However, we have been surpassed by other states with more comprehensive policies. We ask the legislature to improve the existing paid sick days law to:

  • Cover all workers by requiring all employers to provide paid sick time to all employees, regardless of employer size or industry.
  • Bring our eligibility and accrual rate in line with what businesses in our neighboring states provide their workers so workers will become eligible to use their paid sick time 100 days after they start working and can accrue a minimum of 40 hours per year.
  • Expand the definition of family to reflect modern-day family structures, allowing workers to care for their loved ones.
  • Extend access to Safe Days so workers can take care of a family member who experiences family violence, intimate partner violence, or sexual assault.

If you want to join the Paid Sick Days Coalition, please email info@sheleadsjustice.org.

Paid Sick Days: How does CT Compare?

Build an Equitable Economy

Close the Gender Wage and Wealth Gap

Lost wages due to the gender wage gap have long-lasting impacts on women’s housing, childcare, education, retirement, and health care decisions, especially for women of color. We support legislation to continue to increase pay transparency and prohibit gendered pricing.

Gender and racial wage gaps exacerbate student loan debt and make it more difficult for women, especially women of color, to repay their loans. As a result, women carry nearly 2/3 of student loan debt in the U.S. We support the leadership of The Student Loan Fund to support borrowers and end student loan debt.

Create an Equitable State Budget and Tax System

We support the Connecticut For All coalition’s efforts to create greater transparency and build equity into our state’s current tax structure.

We must ensure that state and federal dollars are dedicated to eliminating inequities by increasing investments in pre-K through 12 public education, affordable housing, public higher education, job training programs, and access to affordable health care.

We also urge policymakers to support a permanent, refundable CT Child Tax Credit for our state’s families.

Support Women, Workers, and Families

Establish a System of Universal Child Care

We support policies that increase investments in the child care industry to make care universally available for every family in the setting of their choice, regardless of a child’s age or household income, and increases the wages of child care providers. We support the leadership of Child Care for Connecticut’s Future on these initiatives.

Ensure Basic Needs are Met for All

Strengthen Access to Health Care and Reproductive Freedom

We support policies that advance health equity and justice and ensure all Connecticut residents have access to quality and affordable health care regardless of gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, immigration status, race, ethnicity, income, disability, or zip code. This includes measures that remove barriers to accessing abortion and reproductive health care. We support the leadership of the Coalition for Choice led by Planned Parenthood of Southern New England and Reproductive Equity Now.

Ensure Healthy Futures for All Children

We support policy initiatives that will provide access to high quality nutritious meals for all school children, free of cost, led by the leadership of End Hunger for All CT.

We support the HUSKY Medicaid expansion to all children, including undocumented children and young adults, led by the leadership of the HUSKY for All Coalition.

Protect Tenant Rights

We support the leadership of the CT Tenants Union in urging our policymakers to pass a Just Cause law. Just Cause Eviction Protections means renters cannot be forced out of their homes for no reason. We believe that all people in Connecticut deserve stable and dignified housing, and ensuring tenants cannot be evicted for no reason is a step towards that vision.

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Legislative Report 2022

Informe Legislativo 2022

Paid Sick Days Fact Sheet

2022 Legislative Session Testimony:

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2019 Legislative Session Testimony

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2020 Legislative Session Testimony

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2021 Legislative Session Testimony

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2018 Legislative Session Testimony

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Our Resources

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CT Campaign for Paid Family Leave

All workers deserve access to paid family and medical leave to recover from a serious illness, welcome a child, or care for a loved one. The Campaign for Paid Family Leave is a coalition led by She Leads Justice that advocated for the passage of one of the strongest paid leave laws in the nation in 2019 and is now focused on the implementation of Connecticut’s new paid leave program.

Learn more about the Campaign and its advocacy
Learn more about the CT Paid Leave Authority