39 percent of private sector employees in the United States don’t have a single paid sick day to recover from illness or take care of sick child or relative. These aspiring middle-class workers must choose between losing a paycheck or coming in to work sick, endangering their own health and the public. Sick workers are also less productive than they would be healthy. Workers’ lack of paid time off to care for family members can also harm children’s health, leaving kids without critical caretakers when they inevitably become sick. Parents unable to take time off work end up sending sick children to school or daycare, putting teachers, caretakers, and other children at risk of contagious illness. The Healthy Families Act of 2009 requires employers with 15 or more employees to provide seven days of paid sick leave a year to employees who work at least 20 hours a week. Employees would be able to use the sick leave to care for a sick relative or a newborn child and for needs related to domestic abuse (such as court appearances and counseling), as well as for personal illness. According to one study, this policy would produce as much as $8.1 billion a year in increased productivity, lower medical costs due to reduced spread of disease, and less employee turnover. Most significantly, the legislation helps ensure that middle-class families do not have to choose between health and a needed paycheck. S.1152 is the Senate version of this legislation.