Most Dollar General workers can’t take paid sick leave: report

According to a recent survey, Dollar General workers have trouble when it comes to obtaining paid sick leave, reports Bloomberg.

The Harvard Shift Project conducted the study, which looked specifically at the access service workers have to paid sick leave. The study found that a little less than half of them (49%) do not get paid sick time as a work benefit. That’s not much of an improvement from before the COVID-19 pandemic, when 51% reported in 2017 that they could not get sick leave.

The pandemic did little to improve the situation, according to the study. Some 16% of workers said their access to sick leave expanded in the spring of 2020, but just a few months later, only 6% reported having access to the benefit.

Less than 20% of Dollar General workers can take time off due to illness, according to the report. By comparison, more than 90% of workers at Costco and Stop & Shop have access to paid sick leave as a benefit.

The survey also indicated that white collar workers and other high-ranking employees receive paid sick leave (95% of respondents), compared to just 58% of the lowest earners.