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Can I take time off if my child’s school is closed for coronavirus? Your sick leave law questions answered

Know your rights.

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Elizabeth C. Tippett / The Conversation

By  Elizabeth C. Tippett / The Conversation
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Editor’s note: Lawmakers are debating a coronavirus relief package that could include emergency paid leave benefits for all workers affected by the pandemic. Meanwhile, the spread of COVID-19 is leaving workers in the United States scrambling to figure out what happens to their job – and their pay – if it prevents them from reporting to work. The answer will depend on your employer’s policy, the laws of your state and the reason you will be away. Elizabeth Tippett, who has spent over a dozen years as a workplace lawyer and scholar, offers a primer.

1. Can I take time off if I get sick with coronavirus?

The first thing to do is figure out whether your company has a sick leave policy.

Sick leave allows you to be paid while you are away from work due to illness. Sometimes companies have a “paid time off” policy instead of a sick leave policy, in which vacation is combined with sick leave into a bank of time that can be used for either purpose.

Many sick leave policies are structured to accrue sick leave over time – for example, one hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked. These hours might roll over from year to year and be capped once you reach a maximum amount. Other times, companies have a lump sum policy, where they award you a fixed amount of sick leave that you can use over the course of the year.

However, not every company has a sick policy – the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that roughly a quarter of workers have no access to paid sick leave. Still, it’s worth checking whether your workplace is required to offer sick leave under state or local law. Around 10 states, and many additional municipalities, mandate paid sick leave policies.

There is no federal law requiring sick leave, though a bill to do that was recently reintroduced in Congress.

2. Can I take time off to care for a family member with coronavirus?

Here, too, you’ll want to check your company’s sick leave policy.

Many policies allow workers to use sick time to care for family members that are ill. State sick leave laws frequently require that employers permit workers to use accrued sick leave for caring for family members.

3. Can I take time off if my child’s school is closed?

A few states and municipalities – including Michigan, New Jersey, San Diego and Chicago – anticipated a problem like school closures due to a public health crisis and specifically said sick leave can be used in the event of such emergencies.

In those states and cities, your employer’s policy should conform to that language.

Elsewhere, employers tend to design their sick leave policies around more routine absences and may not include school closures in their policies.

4. What if I run out of sick time?

State and municipal sick leave laws generally require only that employers provide a very modest amount of sick time – typically between one and two weeks per year. And if you just started a new job in recent months, you may not have accrued much sick time.

If you have accrued vacation time, you may be able to use that once your sick leave runs out. Alternatively, sometimes companies officially – or unofficially – let workers take additional time off on an unpaid basis. If you’ve used up your sick leave, you could also try asking if you can have a “negative” sick leave balance, in which you are essentially borrowing from future sick pay accruals, allowing you to continue to receive pay for a limited period of time.

If you or a family member become seriously ill, you might be eligible for up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. This leave is available only for workers at companies with more than 50 employees and who have worked there for 12 months or longer. The regulations for the Family and Medical Leave Act state that the “flu” is generally not considered a serious enough condition to qualify for leave, unless “inpatient hospital care is required or unless complications develop.”

Some states – like California and New York – also have family and medical leave laws that cover a broader range of employees and may provide partial pay. However, these generally require that the employee or the ill family member develop a serious health condition, beyond your average flu symptoms.

5. Can I stay home if I’m worried about catching COVID-19 from co-workers?

Tech companies with hubs in the Seattle area have responded to a coronavirus outbreak in that state by advising or allowing employees to work remotely.

Some state and municipal sick leave laws authorize employees to use sick leave in the event of “closure” of an employee’s place of business in a public health emergency.

Otherwise, your best option is to check whether the company has a telecommuting policy that allows remote work. Even so, such policies generally give the company discretion whether remote work is compatible with your job and the needs of the company.

Failing that, you could try using up any vacation time you’ve accrued. But with tourist hotspots,sporting events and festivals shutting down, it may not be much of a holiday.

_This is an updated version of an article originally published on March 9, 2020.

Elizabeth C. Tippett is an Associate Professor, School of Law, University of Oregon

This article originally appeared on the Conversation. You can read it here.

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  • Social media before bedtime wreaks havoc on our sleep − a sleep researcher explains why screens alone aren’t the main culprit
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    Nighttime scrolling keeps the brain wired.

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    Brian N. Chin

    “Avoid screens before bed” is one of the most common pieces of sleep advice. But what if the real problem isn’t screen time − it’s the way we use social media at night?

    Sleep deprivation is one of the most widespread yet overlooked public health issues, especially among young adults and adolescents.

    Despite needing eight to 10 hours of sleep, most adolescents fall short, while nearly two-thirds of young adults regularly get less than the recommended seven to nine hours.

    Poor sleep isn’t just about feeling tired − it’s linked to worsened mental health, emotion regulation, memory, academic performance and even increased risk for chronic illness and early mortality.

    At the same time, social media is nearly universal among young adults, with 84% using at least one platform daily. While research has long focused on screen time as the culprit for poor sleep, growing evidence suggests that how often people check social media − and how emotionally engaged they are − matters even more than how long they spend online.

    As a social psychologist and sleep researcher, I study how social behaviors, including social media habits, affect sleep and well-being. Sleep isn’t just an individual behavior; it’s shaped by our social environments and relationships.

    And one of the most common yet underestimated factors shaping modern sleep? How we engage with social media before bed.

    Emotional investment in social media

    Beyond simply measuring time spent on social media, researchers have started looking at how emotionally connected people feel to their social media use.

    Some studies suggest that the way people emotionally engage with social media may have a greater impact on sleep quality than the total time they spend online.

    In a 2024 study of 830 young adults, my colleagues and I examined how different types of social media engagement predicted sleep problems. We found that frequent social media visits and emotional investment were stronger predictors of poor sleep than total screen time. Additionally, presleep cognitive arousal and social comparison played a key role in linking social media engagement to sleep disruption, suggesting that social media’s effects on sleep extend beyond simple screen exposure.

    I believe these findings suggest that cutting screen time alone may not be enough − reducing how often people check social media and how emotionally connected they feel to it may be more effective in promoting healthier sleep habits.

    How social media disrupts sleep

    If you’ve ever struggled to fall asleep after scrolling through social media, it’s not just the screen keeping you awake. While blue light can delay melatonin production, my team’s research and that of others suggests that the way people interact with social media may play an even bigger role in sleep disruption.

    Here are some of the biggest ways social media interferes with your sleep:

    • Presleep arousal: Doomscrolling and emotionally charged content on social media keeps your brain in a state of heightened alertness, making it harder to relax and fall asleep. Whether it’s political debates, distressing news or even exciting personal updates, emotionally stimulating content can trigger increased cognitive and physiological arousal that delays sleep onset.
    • Social comparison: Viewing idealized social media posts before bed can lead to upward social comparison, increasing stress and making it harder to sleep. People tend to compare themselves to highly curated versions of others’ lives − vacations, fitness progress, career milestones − which can lead to feelings of inadequacy and anxiety that disrupt sleep.
    • Habitual checking: Social media use after lights out is a strong predictor of poor sleep, as checking notifications and scrolling before bed can quickly become an automatic habit. Studies have shown that nighttime-specific social media use, especially after lights are out, is linked to shorter sleep duration, later bedtimes and lower sleep quality. This pattern reflects bedtime procrastination, where people delay sleep despite knowing it would be better for their health and well-being.
    • Fear of missing out, or FOMO: The urge to stay connected also keeps many people scrolling long past their intended bedtime, making sleep feel secondary to staying updated. Research shows that higher FOMO levels are linked to more frequent nighttime social media use and poorer sleep quality. The anticipation of new messages, posts or updates can create a sense of social pressure to stay online and reinforce the habit of delaying sleep.

    Taken together, these factors make social media more than just a passive distraction − it becomes an active barrier to restful sleep. In other words, that late-night scroll isn’t harmless − it’s quietly rewiring your sleep and well-being.

    How to use social media without sleep disruption

    You don’t need to quit social media, but restructuring how you engage with it at night could help. Research suggests that small behavioral changes to your bedtime routine can make a significant difference in sleep quality. I suggest trying these practical, evidence-backed strategies for improving your sleep:

    • Give your brain time to wind down: Avoid emotionally charged content 30 to 60 minutes before bed to help your mind relax and prepare for sleep.
    • Create separation between social media and sleep: Set your phone to “Do Not Disturb” or leave it outside the bedroom to avoid the temptation of late-night checking.
    • Reduce mindless scrolling: If you catch yourself endlessly refreshing, take a small, mindful pause and ask yourself: “Do I actually want to be on this app right now?”

    A brief moment of awareness can help break the habit loop.

    This article originally appeared on The Conversation. You can read it here.

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    Boredom is a common part of life, across time and around the world. That’s because boredom serves a useful purpose: It motivates people to pursue new goals and challenges.

    I’m a professor who studies communication and culture. I am currently writing a book about modern parenting, and I’ve noticed that many parents try to help their kids avoid boredom. They might see it as a negative emotion that they don’t want their children to experience. Or they might steer them into doing something that they see as more productive.

    There are various reasons they want to prevent their children from being bored. Many parents are busy with work. They’re stressed about money, child care responsibilities and managing other parts of daily life. Making sure a child is occupied with a game, a TV show or an arts and crafts project at home can help parents work uninterrupted, or make dinner, without their children complaining that they are bored.

    Parents may also feel pressure for their children to succeed, whether that means getting admitted to a selective school, or becoming a good athlete or an accomplished musician.

    Children also spend less time playing freely outside and more time participating in structured activities than they did a few decades ago.

    Easy access to screens has made it possible to avoid boredom more than ever before.

    Many parents needed to put their children in front of screens throughout the pandemic to keep them occupied during work hours. More recently, some parents have reported feeling social pressure to use screens to keep children quiet in public spaces.

    That is to say, there are various reasons why parents shy away from their kids being bored. But before striving to eliminate boredom completely, it’s important to know the benefits of boredom.

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    Benefits of boredom

    Although boredom feels bad to experience in the moment, it offers real benefits for personal growth.

    Boredom is a signal that a change is needed, whether it be a change in scenery, activity or company. Psychologists have found that the experience of boredom can lead to discovering new goals and trying new activities.

    Harvard public and nonprofit leadership professor Arthur Brooks has found that boredom is necessary for reflection. Downtime leaves room to ask the big questions in life and find meaning.

    Children who are rarely bored could become adults who cannot cope with boredom. Boredom also offers a brain boost that can cultivate a child’s innate curiosity and creativity.

    Learning to manage boredom and other negative emotions is an important life skill. When children manage their own time, it can help them develop executive function, which includes the ability to set goals and make plans.

    The benefits of boredom make sense from an evolutionary perspective. Boredom is extremely common. It affects all ages, genders and cultures, and teens are especially prone to boredom. Natural selection favors traits that offer a leg up, so it is unlikely that boredom would be so prevalent if it did not deliver some advantages.

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    Boredom is uncomfortable

    Tolerating boredom is a skill that many children resist learning or do not have the opportunity to develop. Even many adults would rather shock themselves with electricity than experience boredom.

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    Encouraging older children to solve the problem of boredom themselves is especially empowering. Let them know that boredom is a normal part of life even though it might feel unpleasant.

    It gets easier

    Children are adaptable.

    As children get used to occasional boredom, it will take them longer to become bored in the future. People find life less boring once they regularly experience boredom.

    Letting go of the obligation to keep children entertained could also help parents feel less stressed. Approximately 41% of parents in the U.S. said they “are so stressed they cannot function,” and 48% reported that “most days their stress is completely overwhelming,” according to a report from the U.S. surgeon general in 2024.

    So the next time a kid complains, “I’m bored!” don’t feel guilty or frustrated. Boredom is a healthy part of life. It prompts us to be self-directed, find new hobbies and take on new challenges.

    Let children know that a little boredom isn’t just OK – in fact, it’s good for them.

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    Brenda and Brian Marquis are part of a growing senior population with mental and physical ailments. In particular, Brian has dementia from a brain injury he sustained in 2012. Brenda would help Brian remember to wash himself, eat lunch, and other tasks. On top of that, both live with other physical, cognitive, and emotional disabilities that make day-to-day living difficult. Then came “Robbie.”

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    “Robbie” is a Stretch 4 robot model invented by Hello Robot. While a very simple in design, the robot is able to help Brian with a number of tasks. It reminds him to eat meals at specific times, fetches items such as water bottles out of the fridge, reads the fine print of prescription medications, and more. Stretch 4 also has prompts that activate when he enters certain rooms of the home, such as the bathroom.

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    Robbie hasn’t just helped Brian live more independently, but Brenda as well. She doesn’t have to be by Brian’s side 24/7. Now, she can go out and play mahjong with her friends without worrying about leaving Brian alone for several hours.

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    Robotics are helping improve the lives of the elderly as a new and exciting care option. With the help of medication, personal care from a human, community, and more, the growing elderly population can thrive through their golden years. For more eldercare resources, visit the National Institute on Aging.

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