Foster, Cohen Lead Effort to Extend COVID-19 Sick Leave for Workers

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Bill Foster (D-IL) and Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN) led 14 of their Democratic colleagues to call on House leadership to move forward with an extension of the COVID-19 sick leave mandate, which expired in December of 2020.

The COVID-19 sick leave mandate was first instituted by the overwhelmingly bipartisan Families First Coronavirus Response Act. It entitled employees to ten days of paid sick leave for self-quarantine, diagnosis or preventative care, COVID-19 treatment, or time to care for a family member who was affected by COVID-19.

"As you know, the temporary requirement for employers to provide paid leave, including sick and family leave, expired on December 31, 2020. Even employees who have negotiated sick leave are seeing their leave eroded quickly by the Omicron variant and inflexible work arrangements," the representatives wrote. "American workers, unionized and otherwise, are watching their benefits vanish by no fault of their own. This cannot continue."

"As the Omicron variant continues to spread throughout our communities, it's important that we make sure hard working Americans are able to take time to care for themselves or family members fighting COVID-19," said Rep. Foster. "This latest surge and the increasing threat of long COVID only reinforce the need for Congress to extend COVID leave protections for workers."

Foster introduced the Pandemic Leave Extension Act on May 11, 2021.

A copy of the letter is available here.

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