During Black History Month, Representative DeLauro (D-CT) and Senator Sanders (I-VT) introduced the Healthy Families Act. This critical bill would guarantee workers across the country the ability to earn paid sick and safe leave when they have short-term health and caregiving needs, including seeking preventive health care, caring for themselves or their loved ones when they are sick or addressing needs related to domestic violence.
A national paid sick and safe leave law is essential for all workers – and the need is especially acute for Black women. A key reason is because 18 states across the country fail to guarantee workers the ability to earn paid sick days, and at the same time block local governments from setting their own paid leave standards for local workers, families and businesses (known as “preemption”).
Black women are disproportionately impacted by paid sick day preemption laws, based on new analysis by the National Partnership for Women & Families and A Better Balance, released with The 75 Million Campaign. We find that:
- More than 6.1 million Black women – 57 percent of Black women in the labor force nationwide – live in these 18 preemption states. By comparison, overall, 43 percent of the U.S. labor force lives in paid sick day preemption states.
- Black women account for 18 percent of the women’s labor force in preemption states, compared to 13 percent of the women’s labor force nationally.
- A majority of these preemption states are in the South, disproportionately affecting Black women.
