Paid sick leave on the ballot in Nebraska: What Catholics should know
The Nebraska State Capitol is seen in Lincoln, Nebraska, on May 14, 2024. / Credit: CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images CNA Staff, Sep 2, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).
Voters in Nebraska will be put in the unusual position come Nov. 5 of voting on two competing pro-life and pro-abortion ballot measures, with major implications for abortion policy in the state. But Catholics are also being encouraged to review and consider another ballot measure unrelated to abortion.
The “Paid Sick Leave for Nebraskans” initiative qualified for the ballot in mid-August after a robust signature campaign, which was funded in large part by a national progressive group.
According to the measure’s campaign website, the ballot initiative would require all Nebraska businesses to offer their employees one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked — up to five days (40 hours) of paid sick leave per year for businesses with fewer than 20 employees, or seven days (56 hours) for businesses with 20 or more employees.
It would also allow employees to earn and use the paid sick days without retaliation. Federal, state, and county employees would not be affected.
Other paid sick leave proposals have repeatedly failed in the Nebraska Legislature. If passed by the majority of Nebraska voters in November, the paid sick leave policy would go into effect on Oct. 1, 2025.
As of 2023, 15 states and the District of Columbia offer some amount of paid sick leave, according to the health policy group KFF. Those states are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.
What does the Catholic Church teach about paid sick leave?
The Nebraska Catholic Conference, which advocates for policy on behalf of the state’s bishops, encouraged Catholics to give the proposal their attention and consideration.
“We encourage all Catholics to strongly review the paid sick leave ballot proposal. Catholic social teaching places a strong emphasis on human dignity, the good of the family, and the dignity of work,” Tom Venzor, executive director of the Nebraska Catholic Conference, said in a statement to CNA.
“It’s important that Catholics properly form their conscience on these matters and exercise their right to vote in a way that upholds the common good.”
The policy of paid sick leave isn’t specifically mentioned in the Church’s teachings. However, the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, a 2004 document that compiles the Church’s various teachings on labor, devotes an entire section to “rest from work,” which mainly pertains to the importance of employers giving workers the opportunity to observe the Sabbath rest.
“Rest from work is a right. … As God ‘rested on the seventh day from all the work which he had done’ (Gen 2:2), so too men and women, created in his image, are to enjoy sufficient rest and free time that will allow them to tend to their family, cultural, social, and religious life,” the document says.
“Public authorities have the duty to ensure that, for reasons of economic productivity, citizens are not denied time for rest and divine worship. Employers have an analogous obligation regarding their employees.”
Father Sinclair Oubre, a priest of the Diocese of Beaumont, Texas, and founder and spiritual moderator for the Catholic Labor Network, told CNA that while he hasn’t reviewed the Nebraska proposal specifically, any proposal of this type must be carefully considered by Catholics to assess whether it will help to “maintain stability in the family.”
“Will having paid sick leave be good for the family or not good for the family? I would tend to say it would be, by its very nature, good for the family because it helps to give the family stability,” Oubre said.
Of course, any policy of this type will have some downsides, he noted, mainly for smaller employers who might struggle to pay two employees when one employee is sick, possibly passing those higher prices on to consumers.
But Oubre said despite these considerations, the Church has long supported policies like paid family leave, pension programs, and unemployment insurance because they support the “security of the family … so that they can be that basic community building block for society and for the Church.”
“To set up a system where a family can be crushed by [an unexpected illness] has consequences for the Church as well as for society,” Oubre said.
For its part, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops endorsed the concept of paid sick leave when it supported the federal 2005 Healthy Families Act, which has been reintroduced several times over the years but never passed. The act would allow workers across the country to accrue 56 hours of paid sick time per year.
“Public policy should protect people who have to take time away from their jobs to handle serious family responsibilities. Parents should not have to worry about being penalized for taking care of themselves, a sick child, or spouse. Such legislation would not only help family life but would send a message that children and families are real priorities within our society,” the 2006 document reads.
“A minimum amount of paid sick leave levels the playing field for covered employers and will have no impact on companies that already provide paid sick leave. The costs of losing an employee (advertising for, interviewing, and training a replacement) alone can be far greater than the cost of providing short-term leave to retain existing employees.”
