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Sick time for the line?
The legislation, House Bill 6187, would require businesses with 50 or more employees to provide six paid sick days per year to their employees for use for the employee’s sickness, child’s sickness, or to deal with sexual assault or family violence matters.
Rally wants to serve food for though
www.journalinquirer.com/articles/2009/03/30/business/doc49d0fe4d2a56d813055630.txt
By Howard French
HFrench@Journalinquirer.com
Published: Monday, March 30, 2009 1:33 PM EDT
A conglomerate of union-related groups is rallying today outside the Waterbury offices of the Connecticut Restaurant Association as part of its push for state legislation mandating paid sick days for restaurant employees.The legislation, House Bill 6187, would require businesses with 50 or more employees to provide six paid sick days per year to their employees for use for the employee’s sickness, child’s sickness, or to deal with sexual assault or family violence matters.
“The press conference will highlight the public health risk created by the lack of a basic labor standard for paid sick days in the food service industry,” Joe Dinkin, spokesman for the Connecticut Working Families said. Connecticut Working Families is an umbrella organization comprised of labor unions and community organizations.
The legislation has passed the Labor Committee and is set to go next to the Judiciary Committee, according to Dinkin. Last year, a similar bill was passed by a bipartisan vote in the State Senate, but never called for a vote in the House of Representatives.
But Dinkin estimated that 78 percent of employees working in “food service and accommodations” lack paid sick days. He also said that the federal Center for Disease Control has estimated that there are 18 million “norovirus” infections every year in America — about half of which are attributable to ill food service workers.
Norovirus, sometimes found on cruise ships, is spread through close contact with an infected person, contaminated surfaces, or food, according to public health officials. Symptoms typically include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and stomach cramps, and subside after one to two days with no long-term effects.
Prevention involves mostly frequent hand washing and avoiding close contact with infected persons or touching contaminated surfaces or food.
Dinkin said his group chose today for the rally in Waterbury because it is the anniversary of the day when 30 UConn students became ill from the norovirus after a dinner at Adams Mill Restaurant in Manchester.
The restaurant voluntarily closed for a day for an extra cleaning effort, and state health officials eventually traced the outbreak to one ill worker.
Dinkin said that paid sick days might have allowed that worker to stay home, avoiding spreading the virus.
However, the Connecticut Restaurant Association strongly opposes the legislation, claiming that the law would put an unfair burden on many small businesses, making it harder for them to survive during the current recession.
“Restaurants operate at slim profit margins, which in the current economy have dwindled to no margins, and this legislation would create a significant financial burden to our member restaurants,” the association’s position statement claims.
“If we do not treat our employees fairly they will leave us to work elsewhere. The government need not and should not get involved,” the group argues.
“Increased operating costs cannot be passed on to customers, causing some restaurants to become unprofitable and reduce jobs,” the association adds.
“The restaurant industry is known for its flexible scheduling. Mandating sick days will likely cause the employee’s loss of this flexibility to manage work and family needs,” according to the association.
Dinkin, meanwhile, said that today’s rally is designed to call on the Connecticut Restaurant Association “to rethink its opposition to paid sick days legislation.”
He cited a National Partnership for Women and Families economic impact analysis of paid sick days legislation last year claiming that the cost for many businesses of providing paid sick days are outweighed by the benefits of “reduced spread of disease in the workplace and reduced turnover.”
The legislation has passed the Labor Committee and is set to go next to the Judiciary Committee, according to Dinkin. Last year, a similar bill was passed by a bipartisan vote in the State Senate, but never called for a vote in the House of Representatives.
Norovirus, sometimes found on cruise ships, is spread through close contact with an infected person, contaminated surfaces, or food, according to public health officials. Symptoms typically include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and stomach cramps, and subside after one to two days with no long-term effects.
Prevention involves mostly frequent hand washing and avoiding close contact with infected persons or touching contaminated surfaces or food.
Dinkin said his group chose today for the rally in Waterbury because it is the anniversary of the day when 30 UConn students became ill from the norovirus after a dinner at Adams Mill Restaurant in Manchester.
The restaurant voluntarily closed for a day for an extra cleaning effort, and state health officials eventually traced the outbreak to one ill worker.
Dinkin said that paid sick days might have allowed that worker to stay home, avoiding spreading the virus.
However, the Connecticut Restaurant Association strongly opposes the legislation, claiming that the law would put an unfair burden on many small businesses, making it harder for them to survive during the current recession.
“Restaurants operate at slim profit margins, which in the current economy have dwindled to no margins, and this legislation would create a significant financial burden to our member restaurants,” the association’s position statement claims.
“If we do not treat our employees fairly they will leave us to work elsewhere. The government need not and should not get involved,” the group argues.
“Increased operating costs cannot be passed on to customers, causing some restaurants to become unprofitable and reduce jobs,” the association adds.
“The restaurant industry is known for its flexible scheduling. Mandating sick days will likely cause the employee’s loss of this flexibility to manage work and family needs,” according to the association.
Dinkin, meanwhile, said that today’s rally is designed to call on the Connecticut Restaurant Association “to rethink its opposition to paid sick days legislation.”
He cited a National Partnership for Women and Families economic impact analysis of paid sick days legislation last year claiming that the cost for many businesses of providing paid sick days are outweighed by the benefits of “reduced spread of disease in the workplace and reduced turnover.”
