Massachusetts Paid Leave Coalition

STATE LABOR CHIEF: PAID SICK DAYS ‘A BASIC RIGHT’

STATE LABOR CHIEF: PAID SICK DAYS ‘A BASIC RIGHT’

By Kyle Cheney

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, APRIL 12, 2011…..Gov. Deval Patrick’s top labor adviser threw the administration’s weight behind a proposal Tuesday that would require employers to allow workers to earn seven paid sick days a year, calling the proposal a “basic right,” arguing it would enhance workplace productivity, and rejecting claims that sick leave policies should be left up to individual businesses.

But at a State House briefing on the issue, flanked by members of the Paid Leave Coalition and supportive lawmakers, Joanne Goldstein, secretary of labor and workforce development, went further.

“All those who oppose these bills,” Goldstein said in what she admitted was a presumption, “themselves enjoy sick days, probably more than the bill provides for. To me there’s some disconnect in fighting against something that you yourself enjoy and take advantage of. I would challenge all of you to find some folks who would say, ‘we think this is such a bad idea … we’re willing to forgo it.’”

Goldstein backed identical bills (H 1398 / S 930) offered by Sen. Patricia Jehlen (D-Somerville) and Rep. Kay Khan (D-Newton) that would enable the 1.5 million workers in Massachusetts who currently lack paid sick days to earn an hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked and up to seven paid sick days a year. Under the proposals, employees who earn sick time would be able to use it to care for themselves, a child, spouse or other immediate family members.

The bills, sponsored by 43 House Democrats, 13 Senate Democrats, and one Senate Republican, Sen. Robert Hedlund of Weymouth, are awaiting a hearing in the Committee on Labor and Workforce Development.

Bill supporters say it would save $348 million a year by reducing employer turnover, slowing the spread of contagious illnesses in the workplace and increasing worker productivity.

If the bill is passed, parents will be able to stay home with sick children or care for elderly parents and relatives, without forcing them to choose between health and income. In fact, Jehlen noted that Sen. Sal DiDomenico (D-Everett), who was scheduled to speak at the briefing, was at home caring for a child with a 100-degree fever, taking advantage of the paid sick time that the Legislature offers.

Goldstein’s comments prompted some head-scratching from Bill Vernon, executive director of the National Federation of Independent Businesses’s Massachusetts chapter, which advocates for small companies.

“I don’t know what’s she’s talking about,” he said. “I would say that to the extent that small businesses oppose sick leave, small business owners have less sick leave than anybody. Most of my businesses don’t run without the owner walking in. You’ve got a one-, two- , three-, four-, five-person operation.”

Small business associations and retailers have long opposed mandatory paid sick time as an imposition on small companies that could put some, already struggling with high health care, energy, unemployment insurance and operational costs, out of business. Questions about sick time, they argue, should be left to companies to work out with their workers.

“I think it’s one of the worst things we can do for small businesses,” Vernon said. “I think it also would obviously make Massachusetts stand out. There’s a few cities that have done this, but I don’t think any other state has guaranteed sick leave.”

Khan, the bill’s cosponsor, said she had been reaching out to businesses to win support. Vernon said he hadn’t spoken with her this year but said he’s “always willing to talk.” Similarly, Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, said he hadn’t spoken with Khan this year and said his opposition to the proposal is ongoing.

Last session, the paid sick leave bill won approval from the Legislature's Labor and Workforce Development Committee but – despite a furious last-minute push – failed to gain traction in the full House or Senate and died in the Ways and Means Committee chaired then by Rep. Charles Murphy (D-Burlington). Murphy, now the assistant House majority leader, attended Tuesday’s briefing.

Gov. Patrick has made little perceptible efforts to advance the proposal, although he joined Lily Ledbetter, a national advocate for paid sick days, at a rally in support of the proposal last spring.

Rep. Jay Barrows (R-Mansfield), who owns a small insurance company that offers paid sick time to its workers, in January called the proposal “an unfunded mandate on the employer.”

At the briefing, held in a small, ornate State House hearing room, Rep. Jason Lewis (D-Winchester) said he had taken paid sick days for granted when he worked in the private sector and was “shocked” to learn that nearly half of all Massachusetts workers don’t have the right to take even one day off.

“This is real a travesty,” he said.

Rob Everts, CEO of Equal Exchange, a company that promotes “fair trade” coffee, chocolate and other products, said his 110 employees are entitled to 12 paid sick days a year. Everts said his sick day policy had been in place since the company began with less than 10 employees.

“If people come to work sick, and they’re coughing and sneezing and hacking up, it bothers people around them,” he said. “If your kids are sick, at a minimum you’re highly distracted. You’re worried. You’re probably taking phone calls, making phone calls. Clearly you’re less productive.”

Everts added that his company’s paid sick day policy helped him personally.

“My father was dying in California and I was able to go spend the last several days of his life with him and the rest of my family in California,” he said. “To be able to do that and not add a layer of worry to a highly stressful moment … it was huge.”

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4/12/2011

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