--- 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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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  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 Barack Obama speaks during an event to mark the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 27, 2015 in New Orleans. President Barack Obama speaks during an event to mark the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 27, 2015 in New Orleans. Joe Raedle—Getty Images  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. ```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":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/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"}}]}] ```