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Sick Days Bill Move to Senate, Despite Opposition
Brian Lockhart (Stamford Advocate)
A proposal requiring paid sick days for part-time workers is heading for the state Senate.
The Judiciary Committee passed the legislation yesterday evening.
Democrats say offering employees one hour of sick time for every 40 hours worked would allow people juggling several jobs to take better care of their health as well as their family's health.
Sick Days Bill Leaves Committee
Mary Ellen Godin (Meriden Record Journal)
The General Assembly's Judiciary Committee approved a bill to improve public health and access to healthcare for low wage workers.
The paid sick days bill, SB 217, was approved by the judiciary committee in a 20 to 7 vote and would allow all employees in Connecticut to earn up to six and a half paid sick days per year."If we're serious about reducing the cost of health care, this is one painless and common-sense way to do it. Employees who don't have sick days are much less likely to go to the doctor for preventive care-and when a flu turns into chronic bronchitis because of lack of treatment, it's going to cost much more to treat over the long run, for consumers, employers, taxpayers and health insurers," said Jon Green, Director of Connecticut Working Families.
Sick Leave Bill Widens Rift Between Labor, Business
Scott Whipple (New Britain Herald)
On Friday, business and labor locked horns over the so-called “sick-leave” bill.
Kia Murrell, assistant counsel to the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, told The Herald that after Senate Bill 217 is argued in the legislature judiciary committee and voted on it will move to the Senate for consideration.
“The Senate’s action will then determine if the bill goes on to the House for consideration,” she said.
Few measures have stirred as much angst as SB-217. Murrell calls the bill “punitive legislation, poorly defined and particularly unfair to small businesses, especially now when smaller firms are feeling vulnerable and weighed down by unfair or unnecessary regulations.”
However, union-backed political organizations ACORN and Connecticut Working Families are urging passage, saying it will protect workers, specifically those in lower-paying jobs. The bill would give full-time workers in companies employing 25 workers or more 6½ days of paid sick leave a year.
ACORN organizer Rachel Haymann says workers worry they will lose their jobs if they call in sick. According to her, 40 percent of employers in Connecticut don’t offer employees sick leave.
