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Comment by GuiA | Hacker News Reader

This is all true, but sadly not going to work is only an option for the more privileged in the USA.

A waiter paid minimum wage + tips struggling to pay for cost of living/child care/debt/medical expenses/etc is likely to go to work anyway, putting the health of potentially hundreds of people at risk.

EDIT: 1 hour later, currently sitting at -1 - if you disagree so much that you feel the need to downvote, please explain why - I am genuinely curious!

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Sometimes even the privileged won't have this option. I get 6 sick days a year, accumulating 4 hours a month. I have a young child in school, so I'm not sure I've ever managed to hit 3 days...

Pretty sure I had the flu last week. Still showed up because I don't want to blow any of my precious 2 weeks vacation time. Got it from my coworkers anyway, who are probably thinking the same thing.

Would take a pretty big shift in US work culture to change any of this.

Very true - this argument helped pass mandatory sick leave entitlements in Seattle recently (I think it just came into effect).

Unfortunately no mandatory sick leave will affect the majority of workers who are contingent, temporary, or otherwise even more at risk of losing pay and firing if they(we) go home sick. I had H3N2 last week and I came to work because I was told I risked being fired if I didn’t. Everyone in the office hated it but I didn’t want to lose my job.

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