I find interesting (as in very suspicious) that part time employees don't get sick days or vacation time. When 29% of the adults who are working part time jobs are disabled and can't work more than what they currently are.
And by interesting/suspicious I mean that society/companies value disabled people less than able bodied or able minded people. So they don't think we deserve the same benefits that our abled colleagues get.
At my old job part timers could ONLY miss 30 hours of work in a six month period that covered sick leave, emergencies, and personal. That's only 7.5 days that I had to be sick. And they wouldn't have cared if I had to get surgery. During COVID they let a full time guy go because he kept getting exposed and was quarantining (we were custodians) cause he was "calling in too much".
Even with a Union I'm not afforded many benefits. There's a system where we can work a 7 hour shift to make up the time we missed working to erase the points against us. But I CAN'T work more than 20 hours here without seriously jeopardizing my SSI. So MAYBE the union could help me negotiate with the company for that amount of time to be reduced.
I genuinely do not understand how part time workers can not be afforded vacation time or at the very least the same amount of sick time as full time workers.
I do not want to hear "But what is the incentive to work full-time if you get the benefits as a part timer?" You know what the incentive is? The increase in income. You work more you make more money. That's the incentive.
I should not have to worry about losing my job if heaven forbid I have to get treatment. If I have to be in the hospital for 2 weeks. I shouldn't have to worry about how I'm going to afford my place when I get out because I don't have sick time or vacation time I could use.
But I hear some of you say "They have SSI they'll be fine they're obviously getting enough to survive on." No they aren't the MAXIMUM amount you can get paid by SSI is 841 USD.
Let me repeat THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT YOU CAN RECEIVE FROM SSI IS 841 USD. And that is if you DON'T work. You cannot survive off 841 USD a month. That'll barely cover housing and utilities. You also don't get the maximum amount if you are working.
I might hear someone say "But disabled people are on SSDI and not SSI so they make more"
Slightly more, they make slightly more. The average individual on SSDI will receive 1,236 USD a month. Which is still not enough to live. Seeing that the amount an AVERAGE person needs to live in the United States of America is about 5,000 USD.
Also a lot of disabled people like myself cannot qualify for SSDI. I barely qualified to get SSI. I have like 8 diagnosed mental disorders, chronic pain, early onset arthritis, asthma, etc. And I still do not qualify for SSDI. And even if I did I couldn't earn more than 1,350 USD a month or I'd lose my Disability.
All this to say what is incredibly obvious to anyone that is disabled they don't care. They do not care if we have to destroy our bodies or minds further. They don't care if we survive. We are not worthy of existence in a lot of people's eyes. Especially when it comes to our corporate overlords. If we cannot produce a product. We haven't earned the right to exist. They can just decide that we aren't worth saving during a pandemic (they seriously did this with COVID-19. There were blanket DNRs. And yes I do understand triage.) That I am tired with how many times jobs have tried to fire me for having a disability. Or tried to take advantage of perceived naivety.
To anyone who is able bodied or able minded. If you don't think this effects you you are wrong. A bad enough injury can make you part of this community. A disease could put you in this exact same boat. Maybe you have a mental illness or neurological condition that will only show up later in life. Hell they could just decide that something you already deal with is a disability. They will find a way to discriminate against you. This could be something you have to suddenly worry about tomorrow. So maybe help us. Help us to help your family.
But seriously final thing. Why wouldn't anyone in the workforce not want part timers to have sick time or vacation time. I'm pretty sure everyone has been part time at some point and would have appreciated it. Would help with morale. Would also help with people desiring to stay at that job. This would benefit people who weren't disabled as well. Like give em PTO. The corporations can definitely afford it. The CEOs and stuff would maybe have to make slightly less than they already do. And well they already make an absurd amount of money.
