The threat of the H1N1 virus has led to official calls on Capitol Hill for paid emergency sick leave requirements for workers.

Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), chairing a health subcommittee hearing Tuesday, said that requiring businesses with 15 or more employees to offer seven paid days off a year would end a dangerous choice “between staying healthy and making ends meet.”

But really the problem is not the lack of paid sick leave in an emergency scenario, but the lack of paid sick leave at all. The United States is the only industrialized country in the world that doesn’t guarantee sick days for their workers. Many employers do offer sick leave, but for the most part, this is a function of class. 88% of workers in the top 10% of wage earners get sick leave, but just 22% of workers in the lowest 10% do. That would include a good but of the service sector, who make the nation’s food.

So many have begun to call for a broader mandate of paid sick leave for every working American. And the Obama Administration officially supports it.

But things took another important step forward today in the somewhat obscure venue of the Senate HELP Committee’s Subcommittee on Children and Families where Seth Harris, Deputy Secretary from the Labor Department, came to offer a strong statement of support for paid sick leave:

“In conclusion, it is clear that while much has been done to help prepare for a national health emergency like 2009 H1N1, more is needed to help protect the economic security of working families who must choose between a pay check and their health and the health of their families. That is why the Administration supports the Healthy Families Act and other proposals that advance workplace flexibility and protect the income and security of workers. I appreciate your time today, and I am happy to answer any questions you may have.”

The Healthy Families Act would mandate businesses with 15 or more employees to provide at least 7 days of paid sick leave per year, and would include care for an ill family member like a child in that mandate.

Conservatives are wailing that the H1N1 virus is providing momentum for paid sick leave policy. My answer would be, so what? This policy would not just be a better deal for workers. It would provide predictability to employers instead of the current circumstance where workers drop out due to sickness. It would eliminate the situation where sick workers come to work because they can’t afford otherwise, and infect their colleagues. It would improve public health. It would decrease hazards in the workplace. And it would provide a basic moral and ethical foundation that workers have all over the world.