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Minnesota House committee approves paid sick days legislation
By Alessandra Fuhrman 15 March 2009
| ST. PAUL - A Minnesota House committee has approved legislation that would provide all Minnesota workers with paid sick days. |
In his presentation of the bill to the House Commerce and Labor Committee last Wednesday, Rep. John Lesch, DFL-St. Paul, emphasized the necessity of the legislation to ensure the health and safety of all Minnesotans, workers and consumers alike.
“U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that 41 percent of Minnesotan workers don’t have paid sick leave, and many of those people work low-paying jobs in the health care and food service industries,” Lesch argued. “Where do you want to make sure workers are healthy?”
The legislation’s supporters also described the importance of paid sick leave for working women. In a system that forces workers to choose between their health and the health of their families and their job, women tend to be disproportionately affected. One testifier, Delinia Parris, knew first hand the grave consequences of current labor practices.
“At one point there were eight days when my kids needed me, my daughter had a nervous breakdown, my son got beat up at school and my other son was diagnosed with autism. I was also experiencing health problems and couldn’t go to work and it ended up costing me my job and my apartment,” Parris explained.
Missing a week of work spelled disaster for her family, Parris said. “For a while there my family was homeless just because I couldn’t miss a week of work. People need to know that not every family has a mom and a dad. There are a lot of single mothers, like myself, that have to make it on their own.”
Unfortunately Parris’ story is not uncommon. According to a recent study conducted by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, over 22 million women in the United States work without paid sick leave.
“Women,” their fact sheet reads, “continue to be overrepresented in part-time and low-wage positions, those least likely to offer employer benefits such as paid sick days. Nevertheless, working women remain the primary foundation of our families.”
Current U.S. labor laws not only fail women and families but are also far behind international labor standards. As the Harvard University and McGill’s joint study “Work, Family, and Equity Index: Where Does the United States Stand Globally”, states “When it comes to ensuring decent working conditions for families, the latest research shows many U.S. public policies still lag dramatically behind all high-income countries, as well as many middle- and low-income countries.”
Of 177 countries included in their study “at least 145 countries provide paid sick days for short or long-term illnesses, with 136 providing a week or more annually.” More than 81 countries mandate paid sick leave of at least 26 weeks.
Currently San Francisco is the only city in the United States that mandates paid sick leave for workers.
The Healthy Families, Healthy Workplace Act – modeled after the San Francisco ordinance – would guarantee all workers one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours of work with a maximum of nine days a year. Small businesses with 10 or fewer employees would only be required to provide five days of paid sick leave per year.
After prevailing in the Labor and Commerce Committee, the bill moves to the Labor and Consumer Protection Division.
Alessandra Fuhrman, a student at Macalester College, is an intern with Workday Minnesota.
For more information
Read the full text of the bill at
https://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/bin/bldbill.php?bill=H0612.0.html&session=ls86 |
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