Web Letters: Flawed Flu Prescription

I think rather than the president telling businesses and people what to do, it might be better if 300,000,000 citizens make decisions for ourselves regarding the health and well-being of our families. I believe our collective IQ will vastly outpace that of any small group of well-intended elected officials.

The information from the CDC is appreciated. I'll take it from here.

Tom Lewellen

Scottsdale, AZ

As president of a small not-for-profit credit union that employees thirty-seven people, I agree with many of the issues raised in this article. We provide six days of paid sick leave to both full- and part-time employees. Common sense would dictate that we don't penalize employees for staying home when they are sick or at risk of passing on a pandemic flu. However, in my experience not all employees would use such a benefit responsibly. If there was no economic consequence, employees would take advantage of the benefit without regard to the impact their absence has on the business. And then there is the question of who pays for these responsible extended absenses from work. To keep my business running, I would have to extend hours of part-time employees and pay overtime to others. Unplanned for costs for us. And during a pandemic, our revenue is likely to decrease, not increase, making financial resources even scarcer. The idea is a good one, even utopian, but the practicalities have yet to be addressed.

Kelly McDonough
First Alliance Credit Union

Rochester, MN

This is a very complicated issue. Part of the question depends on how critical the job is, especially within a tiny company that may have no trained replacements available. Part of the problem is how much contact each worker has with the public. I would argue that a food server with the flu is in a dangerouly critical position and deserves firing if spreading the sickness instead of staying home, and that should be written into the health laws.

But the truth in economics is that certain jobs' being empty will hinder a company or effectively shut it down. Any regulations need to look at such things as how profitable the company is, and how much it is really able to afford.

That is quite true in the current economic climate. A company near bankruptcy is not going to be able to pitch in, while one with a good money-making niche might.

A job has to generate enough cash to pay for itself.

John D. Froelich

Upper Darby, PA