In Connecticut, Paid Sick Leave for Service Workers Is Approved - : Jump to: Search, Content, Nav
June 21, 2011
Small Owners Drop Opposition to Paid Sick Leave
An abstract proposal to require paid sick leave was fleshed out in detail today at City Hall, thereby assuaging the fears of some restaurant owners who were opposed to the measure last month on the grounds it would cost them too much money. Seattle City Council members and the Seattle Coalition for a Healthy Workforce said the measure would benefit the 190,000 Seattle workers who currently work without paid sick leave. And many business owners say they can support the measure—because they helped draft it.
June 4, 2011
Connecticut Paid Sick Leave
After 11 hours of debate in Hartford, state legislators approved a bill on Saturday to make Connecticut the first state in the nation to mandate paid sick leave for hundreds of thousands of service workers. At about 3 a.m., the House voted 76 to 65 on the bill, which had been approved by an 18-to-17 vote in the Senate on May 25. About a dozen fiscally conservative House Democrats voted with the Republicans against the measure, which, while watered down from earlier proposals, had been vigorously denounced by business interests.
June 4, 2011
Connecticut Passes First Statewide Sick Days Bill
The momentum behind the Massachusetts Paid Sick Days Act, H. 1398, S. 930, grew today as the Massachusetts Paid Leave Coalition celebrated the approval of the country’s first state-wide paid sick days law in Connecticut. The legislation, which will ensure workers do not have to choose between their financial security and their health or the health of their families, received bi-partisan support in both the state Senate and state House. Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy has indicated he will sign the bill into law.

…More Headlines

Stay up to date with our campaign. Just write to to be added to the MPLC list serve.
MPLC is committed to protecting your privacy. The MPLC list serve is an opt-in, permission-based email list. We will not email you without your permission. See our full Privacy Policy.

Contact your State Legislators to tell them this legislation is important to you!

  • Look up your State Legislators
  • E-mail your State Senator
  • E-mail your State Representative
  • Call the Massachusetts State House and ask for your Representative and/or Senator: (617) 722-2000
  • E-mail the Governor or call his office and tell him this legislation is important to you (617)725-4005 or 888.870.7770 (in state)

In Connecticut, Paid Sick Leave for Service Workers Is Approved

New York Times
June 4, 2011
By PETER APPLEBOME

After 11 hours of debate in Hartford, state legislators approved a bill on Saturday to make Connecticut the first state in the nation to mandate paid sick leave for hundreds of thousands of service workers.

At about 3 a.m., the House voted 76 to 65 on the bill, which had been approved by an 18-to-17 vote in the Senate on May 25. About a dozen fiscally conservative House Democrats voted with the Republicans against the measure, which, while watered down from earlier proposals, had been vigorously denounced by business interests.

Proponents hailed the vote as a landmark victory for workers’ rights and public health at a time that similar measures are pending or about to be introduced in Philadelphia and Seattle and are being pushed elsewhere. Only San Francisco and Washington, D.C., now require employers to give paid sick days to workers.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, a first-term Democrat who had named paid sick days as a campaign issue, said in a statement that the bill was measured and fair. But Republicans and business interests called it onerous and ill-timed at a period in which businesses are struggling and job growth is anemic.

The bill applies only to businesses with 50 or more employees. It exempts manufacturing companies and nationally chartered nonprofit organizations, day laborers, independent contractors and temporary workers.

The measure covers only service workers who receive an hourly wage, an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 of them, including waiters, cashiers, fast-food cooks, hair stylists, security guards and nursing home aides. It allows each employee to earn one hour of paid sick time for every 40 hours worked, with the number of days capped at five per year.

Still, even in its limited form, it became a flashpoint at a time of widespread economic stress and pressure on workers.

Governor Malloy said, “This is good public policy and specifically, good public health.” He added: “Why would you want to eat food from a sick restaurant cook? Or have your children taken care of by a sick day care worker? The simple answer is — you wouldn’t. And now, you won’t have to.”

Before the vote, the House Republican leader, Larry Cafero, said that passing the bill was “the absolutely worst thing we could do, the worst signal we could send.” He added, “What we need in the state of Connecticut is jobs, jobs, jobs.”

But proponents said there was no evidence that the legislation put an unfair burden on business.

Debra L. Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women and Families, said that more than 40 million American workers do not have a single paid sick day.