Bill Would Guarantee Up to 7 Paid Sick Days - Business groups are vowing to block the legislation

[jefferson_dem]

Bill Would Guarantee Up to 7 Paid Sick Days
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE

A long-stalled effort to guarantee American workers paid sick days takes a big step forward Monday with the introduction of legislation by Congressional Democrats.

The proposal went nowhere during the presidency of George W. Bush, but as a senator and then a presidential candidate, Barack Obama backed it, and Michelle Obama embraced the idea last week in a talk to business leaders.

Now women’s groups, labor unions and other supporters are voicing optimism about its prospects.

“The last eight years, you kept clawing and scratching and didn’t get anywhere, but we have a real opportunity now,” said Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, who along with Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts will introduce the measure. “There’s something wrong when people have to choose between their jobs and taking care of themselves or their families when someone is sick.”

Business groups are vowing to block the legislation, arguing that the recession makes this an inopportune time to create a new mandate that they say would raise costs for employers.

“Given that small businesses are barely able to keep their heads above water in this economy, we don’t think this is the right legislation to be pushing right now,” said Susan Eckerly, senior vice president at the National Federation of Independent Business, which represents small-business owners.

<SNIP>

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/16/health/policy/16sick.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

[Deja Q]

1. Businesses claim cross-training makes it easier for people to take time off.

What is their problem?

oh, that's right, they're greedy little anti-social fux, that's what.

(not meant to be a blanket statement; not all companies are anti-family...)

[livefreest]

2. up to just 7 paid sick days? and businesses are vowing to block it?

wow!

[Kdillard]

3. Hope this goes through. kick

[flpoljunkie]

4. Would they ever think the time is right?

In a word, no.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

5. More progressive companies call it personal time

So you can take a day without having to pretend you are sick. Everyone needs the occasional day for a medical appointment, car repair, sick child, sickness themselves,etc. In some companies your personal time is a function of hours worked, so that you accumulate it gradually.

Sick time also usually raises the whole can it be rolled over? question. There's the can you cash the unused portion? Or, is it use it or lose it before the end of the year, so that there's a sudden rash of absences. There are lots of municipal employees who never take their accumulated sick time except right before retirement and then it can be months worth.


Some small business might indeed have some problems/issues with how large an impact this might have on a very small bottom line.

In an ideal world, companies and employers would voluntarily have great benefits just to be competitive in the employment market. If they could get the healthcare monkey off their backs, this would have a better chance of becoming true.

[ksoze]

6. Penalizes healthy workers - Flex days work best, but who pays?

"Sick" days have generally misused forever and become simply paid days off that can be lost if not used. Many companies use Flex Days or Personal Days, which are simply floating holidays that be used for sick, religious or personal time off. The problem is who pays - most small business cannot afford adding paid days off, no matter how fair it is. With many companies having layoffs and furloughs, it is hard to add more paid time off when there is no margin.

[ccinamon]

7. Businesses are looking at this ALL wrong...

Instead of looking at the immediate costs of 7 paid days, you need to look at it from the PRODUCTIVITY costs....studies show happy employees are willing to work hard, unhappy employees have a tendency to work not as hard or goof off more....if 7 paid days are going to help keep employees less stressed and worried and feel GOOD about working for a company, it directly translates into better employees and more productivity.

But then, most businesses seem to just look at the immediate and actual costs, not the long-term benefits....why can't companies go back to the long-term benefits of new equipment, efficient procedures, and happy employees?

Short-sided, brain-addled, nitwits.

On edit:

I worked for a small business, I gently was leading up to asking for a handful of paid sick days and a handful of vacation days, both times the owner went on and on about the costs of doing business and how small businesses are always suffering...however, I was on the inside and I saw the wasteful and stupid things they spent money on...cheap printers that died and I would have to spend days talking with HP trying to get a resolution, paying double for dance instructors to come in and teach (they wanted to show how "fair" they were), and they ate out EVERY meal...meanwhile, no money for promotion of their events or products (which would bring in money, but they said they didn't have money - yeah right), no money for raises, no money for any paid days off...after 5 years I quit as the stress of meeting their deadlines and the amount of work was overwhelming...I was responsible for doing 2 peoples worth of work...they kept promising a pay raise when certain criteria would be met, I met it and then they would say their costs have gone up. Greedy Old Pigs.

I've also worked for large corporations where the top management could make all the bad and wrong decisions and still walk away with millions of dollars and lifetime health care..the workers had their vacation and sick time rolled in "personal days" what a crock that turned out to be...people came to work even more sick than before! I was always surprised that some big epidemic didn't claim the entire building.

Most companies will be able to afford it -- how productive is a sick employee anyway...and they end up causing at least one other employee to get sick when the come to work sick.

[Kdillard]

14. Amen.

[lynne]

8. Read the fine print -

"The bill, the Healthy Families Act, would be binding on employers that had 15 or more workers. It would guarantee employees one paid hour off for each 30 hours worked, enabling them to earn up to seven paid sick days a year."

Cutting back on either employee hours or number of employees in small businesses would reduce or eliminate the benefits entirely. Yes, this will be helpful to some. However, to others it will either cost them work hours or their job entirely.

[ecstatic]

10. oh ok. That makes sense nt

[SpartanDem]

12. I like the concept, but 15 employees is too low

it seems like that would really hurt small businesses. It should be at least be 100 employees before this is required.

[ecstatic]

9. Not every business is a billion or even million dollar making company

Will the small struggling gift shops etc. have to do this too? And if so, with what money?

[ksoze]

11. Exactly

Would ALL employees in a company agree to across the board pay cuts to support this benefit for ALL employees? Small business do not just print extra money when they need it - they cut costs. This shows an ignorance of how small businesses run and the razor edge between profit and loss.

[Kdillard]

13. If the gift shop had more than fifteen employees yes if not no

[kimmylavin]

15. But...

Do small struggling businesses have full-time employees, with benefits?
It seems that most retail shops have hourly employees, and I don't think this bill would apply.