Posted on: Monday, February 21, 2005

Even 'heroes' need a sick day

By Amy Joyce
Washington Post

WASHINGTON — This month, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., fainted after she complained of a stomach virus. She went on to give a speech about healthcare later that day. According to news reports, she was introduced by former Rep. John LaFalce, D-N.Y., who told the crowd that Clinton was there against her doctor's advice because she was committed to talking about healthcare.

Well, what about her own healthcare?

The thing is, Clinton is not alone. How often do we drag ourselves to work when we're too sick to be in public? And how much work do we really get done when we go? It's a question that's pondered every year around this time, when the flu works its way through cubicle land and every other sort of workplace.

People are "pretty committed to coming in and working. I remind them a hero ain't nothing but a sandwich," said Llelwyn Grant, a spokesman with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But apparently many feel the need to be a hero. Really, would Clinton have been able to give that speech a couple of days later? Could co-workers take a day or two to sip chicken soup and tea and do some e-mail checking couchside, to keep you away from their germs?

"Often, we encourage workers to stay at home because a lot of times they're contagious even before they're showing symptoms," Grant said. "One day before the symptoms and up to seven days after getting sick, they could pass the virus to other staff members."

But the truth is that people go to work sick. They make their co-workers sick, who then make their kids sick, who then make their classmates sick, who make their parents sick. And that's why the employee who comes to work sniffing, sneezing and hacking becomes the office pariah.

But perhaps we should take the cue from another public figure: Not long after Clinton fainted, the Treasury Department sent out an announcement. Secretary John Snow "has a bad chest cold and will not be traveling to the meeting of the G7 finance ministers ... in London," the press release stated. That was unusual for official Washington. Or for anyone, really.

"We have a problem in our cultural norm today that to be considered a good worker, you have to show up all the time. Not only is that unrealistic, it's harmful," said Chai Feldblum, a law professor at Georgetown University and director of Workplace Flexibility 2010, a research organization that aims to develop a national policy on workplace flexibility.

Feldblum argues that workplaces should allow more flexibility. "This is the moment in history for that shift to occur," Feldblum said.

That's because "there used to be this thing called wives who stayed home. That's how people could volunteer in the community and take care of kids and not miss work," he said.