Pandemic Protection for Workers, Families, and Businesses Act
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Congressional Research Service
Official summary
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Nov 17, 2009
Pandemic Protection for Workers, Families, and Businesses Act - Requires certain covered employers to provide annually to each of their covered: (1) full-time employees at least seven days of paid sick time, and specified employment benefits; and (2) part-time employees the same employment benefits and a number of days or hours of paid sick time, determined under a specified pro rata formula.
Allows the covered employee to use such sick time for an absence: (1) resulting from a medical condition involving symptoms of a contagious illness (including influenza-like illnesses such as the 2009 H1N1 virus), the need to obtain medical diagnosis or care, or to obtain preventive care for such illness; (2) due to determination by a health authority or a health care provider that the employee's presence on the job, after exposure to a contagious illness, would jeopardize the health of others; (3) to care for a child experiencing such symptoms; or (4) to care for a child due to determination by a health authority or a health care provider that the child's presence in the community, after exposure to a contagious illness, would jeopardize the health of others.
Permits use of sick leave if the covered employee's place of business is closed due to a contagious illness or his or her need to care for a child whose school or child care or early childhood program has been closed for such reason.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Read full official summaryShow less
Specifies prohibited acts by an employer, and penalties for violations.
Source last updated: Jan 14, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Explore the bill from different angles
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Neutral evidence review
Objective
Analyze S.2790 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
View full prompt & sources
Fairness and public impact
Progressive lens
Examine S.2790 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
View full prompt & sources
Institutions and government scope
Conservative lens
Examine S.2790 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
View full prompt & sources
Individual rights and government power
Liberty lens
Examine S.2790 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.