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August 2008
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States push laws to require paid sick days
August 21, 2008 — Twelve states — including California, Connecticut, Minnesota, and West Virginia — have proposed legislation in the past year that would require businesses to provide about 46 million U.S. workers paid sick days.
Businesses — especially small companies — argue that forcing them to offer paid sick days hinders their ability to provide a flexible array of benefits, such as a mix of vacation and personal days that also may be used by employees when they are sick. And they say it’s a costly new mandate for businesses already struggling through a contracting economy.Nearly all large companies already offer paid sick leave to at least some of their workers, but state and federal mandates
“This is the next frontier in assuring workplaces are safe,” said Kate Kahan, director of the work and family program at the Washington-based National Partnership for Women & Families, which lobbies on paid sick leave and other workplace and healthcare issues.
Kahan and other workers’ advocates believe paid sick time should be an employment standard, like the federal minimum wage.
Advocates say the benefit is particularly needed for employees who handle food or work with children.
Proposed federal legislation would provide workers with seven days of paid sick leave a year for employees who work 30 or more hours a week. The benefit would be prorated for part-time workers.
Source: USA Today, www.usatoday.com
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