--- title: Obama: Unpaid Sick Leave the Focus of New Executive Order description: The order will require federal contractors to give employees the ability to earn seven days of sick leave per year canonical: https://time.com/4024342/obama-paid-sick-leave-executive-order/ author: Nolan Feeney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-07T14:16:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-14T01:36:58.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama Grants Paid Sick Leave for Federal Contractors og:description: He signed a new executive order on Labor Day that could help 300,000 workers og:url: https://time.com/4024342/obama-paid-sick-leave-executive-order/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte9d782c0c435ce3d/69886271cd1bba21796fd0be/obama3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: President Obama New Orleans og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Grants Paid Sick Leave for Federal Contractors twitter:description: He signed a new executive order on Labor Day that could help 300,000 workers twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte9d782c0c435ce3d/69886271cd1bba21796fd0be/obama3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Signs Executive Order Granting Paid Sick Leave for Federal Contractors > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=67ac6683-9eff-47bf-aa17-903663eb1e7e&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Obama Wants Federal Contractors To Offer Paid Sick Leave [Watch (HLS stream): Obama Wants Federal Contractors To Offer Paid Sick Leave](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/6i1ktg7g.m3u8) (1:06)  _Published 2015-09-07. President Obama is signing an executive order that will require federal contractors to provide up to seven days a year in paid sick leave._  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Updated: Dec 14, 2023 1:36 AM UTCPublished: Sep 7, 2015 2:16 PM UTC President Obama is signing an executive order that will require federal contractors to provide up to seven days a year in paid sick leave.  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Updated: Dec 14, 2023 1:36 AM UTCPublished: Sep 7, 2015 2:16 PM UTC President Obama signed an executive order Monday that gives an estimated 300,000 workers new access to paid sick leave. Obama announced the executive order at the annual Greater Boston Labor Council Breakfast.“Right now you have parents who have to choose between losing income or staying home with a sick child,” Obama told the group. The order will require federal contractors to give their workers the ability to earn up to seven days (56 hours) of paid sick leave each year, according to a [press release from the White House](https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/09/07/fact-sheet-helping-middle-class-families-get-ahead-expanding-paid-sick). Employees will earn an hour of paid leave per every 30 hours of work when the policy begins with 2017 federal contracts. They can use that time to care for themselves as well as family members. It’s the latest step in Obama’s labor agenda, which saw him expand paternal leave in January and expand overtime eligibility in June. > [](https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/640932005727879168) “You shouldn’t have to win the boss lottery to have access to paid leave, just as you shouldn’t have to win the geographic lottery in order to get a minimum wage that allows you to feed your family,” Labor Secretary Tom Perez said Sunday in a preview of the order, USA Today reports. ## Transcript [00:00] President Obama wants federal contractors to give [00:02] their employees paid sick leave, and he's using an [00:05] executive order to get it done. The order would ensure [00:07] full and part time workers get an hour of sick leave, for [00:10] every 30 hours worked, totaling up to seven days a [00:12] year. It's part of an ongoing effort by the president to [00:15] improve benefits for federal contractors using such [00:17] orders. Last year president Obama signed a similar [00:20] order raising the minimum wage for contractors. The [00:23] president is not a law unto himself. The presidents [00:25] opponents have criticized his use of executive orders [00:28] alleging he's over used them and overstepped his [00:30] powers, but with this latest order the president will [00:33] have signed 217 executive orders compared to his [00:36] predecessor George W. Bush's 291 291, and Bill [00:39] Clinton's 364. And the President's latest order won't [00:43] take immediate effect, as the New York Times points [00:45] out, because it must first go through a public comment [00:48] period, it will apply only to new federal contracts [00:50] starting in 2017. For its part, the administration says [00:53] the President has tried to use his executive orders to [00:56] prompt Congress to act on issues it hasn't addressed. [00:58] [ INAUDIBLE ] But some of the President's executive [01:00] orders, like his order on immigration, have been held [01:02] up in court after states challenged their [01:04] constitutionality. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4024342/obama-paid-sick-leave-executive-order/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4024342/obama-paid-sick-leave-executive-order/"},"headline":"Obama Signs Executive Order Granting Paid Sick Leave for Federal Contractors","datePublished":"2015-09-07T14:16:24.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-14T01:36:58.000Z","description":"He signed a new executive order on Labor Day","url":"https://time.com/4024342/obama-paid-sick-leave-executive-order/","keywords":["White House","politics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte9d782c0c435ce3d/69886271cd1bba21796fd0be/obama3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte9d782c0c435ce3d/69886271cd1bba21796fd0be/obama3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Obama New Orleans","caption":"President Obama New Orleans","creditText":"Joe Raedle—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4024342/obama-paid-sick-leave-executive-order/","name":"Obama Signs Executive Order Granting Paid Sick Leave for Federal Contractors"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Obama Wants Federal Contractors To Offer Paid Sick Leave","description":"President Obama is signing an executive order that will require federal contractors to provide up to seven days a year in paid sick leave.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/6i1ktg7g/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-09-07T14:56:08.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/6i1ktg7g.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4024342/obama-paid-sick-leave-executive-order/","duration":"PT1M6S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4024342/obama-paid-sick-leave-executive-order/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```