This case study presents a health impact assessment (HIA) of the California Healthy Families, Healthy Workplaces Act of 2008, which mandates paid sick days for all employees. The HIA was conducted by the San Francisco Department of Public Health and Human Impact Partners, and synthesized both original and existing qualitative and quantitative evidence. The HIA predicted significant, positive, and credible health impacts from the legislation, including limiting the transmission of common communicable diseases in community settings and enabling workers to care for sick dependents and participate in preventative care. Legislative sponsors successfully used the HIA in communication and advocacy, gaining wide media coverage of the research and framing the legislation as a public health matter. The study suggests that HIA can provide a vehicle to give value to public health outcomes and that there is a demand for replication of the effort nationally.
