Tahirah Foster Needs Paid Sick Days!

My name is Tahirah Foster. I live in Denver and I'm the mother of a precocious 4-year-old named Sa’mari, who lives with asthma.

I was forced to leave my dream job as a crew leader at a fast food restaurant because I had no access to paid sick days and my employer refused to allow me the time to be away from work when my daughter had an asthma episode.

The breaking point for me came the day when Sa’mari experienced a brutal asthmatic episode and the child care director called my job with a message that my daughter needed to be picked be right away. But the restaurant was particularly busy that day and the manager choose not to pass along the message until the end of my shift.

These days, I works as a part-time political canvasser, a job where I receive pro-rated paid sick days based on my hours, and it also offers me the opportunity to manage both my care-giving duties and my paid work duties.

I want to see my legislators pass Paid Sick Days in Colorado, so parents like me won't be punished for doing the right thing for our children.

Watch Tahirah talk about the importance of Paid Sick Days here