Only two nations among OECD membership are without sickness benefits: Korea and U.S. The two have been struggling to introduce the social security scheme especially after finding the sick or infected workers, including the vulnerable, going to workplaces during the pandemic.
In fact, U.S. has a long history of trying and failing to introduce the system. The history is dramatic as the introduction and implementation of the scheme has involved stakeholders such as businesses, unions, politicians, civic movement, etc. Now U.S. is running the federal-level unpaid medical leave (FMLA). Sixteen states enforce paid sick leave and 9 states run paid family and medical leave. This study introduces history of U.S. social policy and sickness benefit (Chapter 2) and sickness benefits on federal and state level (Chapter 3). Two case studies are conducted to review the system in Massachusetts(Chapter 4) and Washington(Chapter 5). At the end, policy implications are discussed in Chapter 6.