Surprise us, Gov. Youngkin. Sign the paid sick days bill.

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The 2025 General Assembly has ended and legislators sent Gov. Glenn Youngkin a modest bill that would allow all workers in Virginia to earn up to five paid sick days to use when they or their children are sick. The benefits of the bill are clear:

• More than a million low- and moderate-income Virginia workers would finally have access to a few paid sick days. Workers in higher paying jobs usually have this benefit, but two-thirds of grocery store workers, 25% of health care workers and most restaurant workers do not.
• Fewer children would be sent to school sick. Many parents must choose between losing a day of pay or sending their children to school sick. Talk with any teacher or school nurse in a working-class community in the commonwealth and you will hear countless stories about sick children sent to school, which puts other children and school staff at risk of illness, too.
• Public health would improve. Service workers are among the least likely to have paid sick days. They care for our loved ones, prepare our food, and serve us. Without paid sick days they spread illnesses to all of us, weakening Virginia’s overall public health. When  staff at the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy are sick, I beg them to stay home. I do not want their illnesses, but many would feel compelled to come into work if they did not have paid sick days.  

Over the last five years the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy has worked on this bill because it is one of the clearest ways to improve the lives of working families. We have partnered the last couple of years with Del. Jeion Ward, D-Hampton, and in previous years with Sen. Barbara Favola, D-Arlington, Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, and former delegate Elizabeth Guzman. During that time, we have heard all the arguments against a paid sick day standard. The most common argument is that the bill is a mandate on businesses. Indeed, it is. When I have asked opponents what their suggestion is for getting workers paid sick days, they have no answer. Or worse, they have frivolous suggestions, like the former chair of the House Commerce and Labor Committee who told me  “workers should just go find other jobs.” 

Employer groups suggest that small businesses will be crushed by this burden of providing a few paid sick days to their workers. But let’s be clear: Every other industrialized country in the world offers paid sick days or paid leave policies, and now 18 states plus D.C. have statewide policies. Employers have adapted well.

The largest study on the impact of paid sick days policies on businesses, entitled “No Big Deal: The Impact of New York City’s Paid Sick Days Law on Employers,” found that businesses were able to implement the policy with little to minimal impact and that a year after the law was enacted, 86% of employers supported it. Virginia’s robust business community can manage this modest policy.

Most of the other opponents’ arguments are merely talking points, not serious concerns, such as claiming that calculating accrued hours will be complicated (it wouldn’t be) or that the policy is just a cookie cutter, one-size-fits-all rule (it is a minimal standard, not a rigid mandate). 

Under this bill, employers that already have a paid time off (PTO) policy that allows workers to take sick time for themselves or their children do not need to add additional coverage. Some legislators confuse paid sick days (for a cough or flu) with a paid leave policy (for long-term health issues or pregnancy). Both are needed policies, but they are different. 

A paid sick days bill is widely popular among Democratic and Republican voters in our state. In fact, a 2020 YouGov poll found that 83% of registered voters in Virginia supported requiring employers to provide paid sick days for employees.

In the 2024 elections, three states that voted for Trump — Nebraska, Alaska, and Missouri — also passed new paid sick day laws because of ballot initiatives. If Virginia voters had access to ballot initiatives, Virginia would have a paid sick day standard.

But Virginians must rely on the General Assembly and the governor. The legislature has done its job. Now it is the governor’s turn.

Do I think Youngkin will sign it? No, not really. He only signs bills with strong bipartisan support, and not even all those. (He holds the record for the most gubernatorial vetoes in Virginia history.) Despite the new Republican appeal to working class voters, this governor has not signed any bills into law that raise wages or benefits for workers. 

But should he? Yes. This is good for our economy and for the health of all Virginians.

Surprise us, Gov. Youngkin. Sign the paid sick days bill.