newbritainherald.com/articles/2009/04/03/news/doc49d6c0aee7175581923508.txt

Friday, April 3, 2009 10:19 PM EDT

By SCOTT WHIPPLE
Staff writer

Most anniversaries are based on joyous events: Births. Weddings. The start of a beneficial venture.

This week a group of publi- health advocates, food-service workers and members of the EverybodyBenefits.org campaign met in Waterbury to observe the one-year anniversary of an infection.

Actually, these activist groups were rallying in support of the paid sick days bill currently under consideration by the state legislature. Their meeting commemorated the anniversary of a headline-making outbreak of food-born illness at Adam’s Mill in Manchester.

During a school function, 30 University of Connecticut students were infected with a norovirus — a violent “stomach flu.” The students recovered in the UConn infirmary The state Department of Health attributed the outbreak to an ill food service worker.

The EverybodyBenefits.org coalition, connecting some dots, concluded that a paid sick days policy would have reduced the spread of this kind of illness in restaurants.

The General Assembly is considering legislation which would create a basic labor standard for paid sick days in the state. The bill, HB-6187, would require every business of 50 employees or more to grant workers one hour of sick time for every 40 hours of work with a cap of six and a half days a year.

“If people knew how often sick food service workers were preparing and serving their food, they’d be alarmed,” said Carrie Breslin, a baker for a Connecticut bakery and restaurant chain. “But, in this economy, I can’t risk losing a day’s pay or my job because of a cold or the flu.”

“I feel bad about going to work and spreading my cold, but I absolutely cannot miss the pay, especially in this economy — and I’m not the only one,” said William Harshaw, a chef in a New Britain restaurant. “Sometimes during flu season, illness will spread through the kitchen staff all at once. Just this January there was an outbreak of disease, with cooks, dishwashers and wait-staff sneezing, coughing and sharing aspirin.” Harshaw declined to identify his employer.

According to the Center for Disease Control, there are 18 million “norovirus” infections every year in America — about half are attributable to ill food service workers.

In light of this danger, the coalition wants the Connecticut Restaurant Association and the Connecticut Business and Industry Association to rethink their opposition to paid sick days legislation.

“Nobody wants sick people preparing or serving our food,” said Deb Noble, a member of Connecticut Working Families, a coalition of community organizations, labor unions and neighborhood activists “united to fight for a fair” economy. “But, opposition to this common-sense measure is putting its lobbying agenda ahead of the health of their own customers.”

Some who provide paid sick days, say that it’s healthy for customers and smart for business.

“Encouraging employees to stay home when they are sick reduces the spread of illnesses in the workplace,” said Louis Lisa, owner of West Hartford’s Pound House restaurant. “I would rather have one employee stay home for a day or two than have half of my staff catch the flu. This is especially true in a business where people prepare and handle food all day. The last thing I would want would be to infect customers by making sick people cook their food.”

An estimated 650,000 workers in the state don’t have any paid sick days. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics, 254,901 of these employees work in either food service, retail or health care. The coalition argues that paid sick days legislation will reduce the spread of infection while improving public health, providing economic security for working families and increasing productivity in the workplace.

“This bill turns out to be a benefit for employers, employees and the public health,” said Steffany Stern, policy analyst with the National Partnership for Women and Families. “The costs to businesses of providing paid sick days are outweighed by the benefits of reduced spread of disease in the workplace and reduced turnover.”

However, CBIA’s assistant counsel, Kia Murrell, said proponents of the paid sick days mandate are focusing on the food service and hotel industries, which make up only about 8 percent of the state’s workforce. CBIA, which has opposed HB-6187 from the get-go, argues that with many businesses struggling to survive, the mandate would push many to the edge and make them less competitive.

Scott Whipple can be reached at swhipple@newbritainherald.com or by calling (860) 225-4601, ext. 319.