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News & ArtsWednesday, August 10, 2011
Health / City Health Committee Passes Paid Sick Leave Legislation, With Reservations
Posted by Cienna Madrid on Wed, Aug 10, 2011 at 4:08 PM
Legislation that would allow all Seattle employees to accrue mandatory paid sick leave was passed by the Seattle City Council's Housing, Human Services, Health, and Culture Committee this afternoon. Currently, 190,000 Seattle employees—or roughly 40 percent of the city's workforce—don't have access to paid time off.
Council members Nick Licata, Jean Godden, Sally Clark, Mike O’Brien voted unanimously in favor of the legislation (Council President Richard Conlin abstained). But don't expect easy passage of the bill at the September 12th full council meeting. Even though council members have made concessions for business owners—including exempting micro businesses (with fewer than five employees), excluding work study employees, and ensuring that paid time off can't be used for 180 days after an employee's start date—both Conlin and Clark criticized the legislation before today's vote, and a few other council members are rumored to be waffling.
"I know it's not wildly popular to support big business..." began Clark, who's up for re-election this November, before criticizing the number of paid time off days awarded in the legislation and parroting business owners' specious arguments about how restaurant employees can swap shifts if they're sick (but employees outside the restaurant industry cannot).
"There are issues of concern that are outstanding," Conlin simply said.
Meanwhile, council member Bruce Harrell's challenger, Brad Meacham, released a statement today accusing Harrell of opposing the legislation in a private endorsement meeting with the Seattle Chamber of Commerce.
“Release your questionnaire answer, Bruce,” Meacham said in the statement. “The public deserves to know the truth about whether you have been saying one thing to them about paid sick days and the opposite to the powerful downtown interests backing your campaign.” Harrell has publicly supported paid sick leave in the past but may, like Clark and Conlin, be an waffling asshat. I'll update when I hear back from his people.
UPDATE: Here's Harrell's response: "As an attorney who has spent decades fighting to protect the rights of employees, it stands to no surprise that I support a sick leave policy and our current effort to address the health challenges that sick employees face when they are unable to come to work. I have stated my position at every forum and whenever asked. At the same time, I want the input and vetting process with small business owners to occur such that our policies do not place small businesses at risk or encourage them to move to other cities. I am not convinced this has occurred yet and I am confident we will achieve the policy objectives regarding the health of employees and the needs of small businesses when the legislation is passed.”
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These same people probably mock Fox news for doing the same thing for their chosen candidates. Judge Harrell on how he actually votes- that's what matters.
1. I seconded the motion to approve the legislation.
2. I voted for it today.
3. I've consistently said I support passage.
Yes, I've raised a question about why to treat employees of large restaurant groups differently than smaller restaurants when it comes to shift swap opportunities.These employees depend on tips just like the employees of other restaurants. Raising a question about fairness for the companies and the employees shouldn't be seen as heretical. Condemning people for raising questions and tarring them as "pro-business" is cheap and a disservice.
thank you for your second and your vote!
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So employees at large restaurants who rely on tips actually are much better off under the current ord. than employees at smaller restaurants, presumably because their employers can afford it.
Am I misreading something?
If the city wants to mandate health insurance (and that's what paid sick days amount to), then the city should fund the program, not put the burden on the owners of small businesses.
So you're saying my paid sick days will cover the bill for my doctor or ER visit, and my prescriptions? And my health insurance will pay me for the days of work I miss due to illness or injury?
What fucking planet do you live on?
*Every* full-time job I've ever had has had paid sick days, and many of the part-time ones, too. If you work in a white-collar field, it's just standard. And I simply can't understand why what's standard in my career path (copywriter, teacher, radio DJ—I never said it was a straight path) can;t be offered to blue collar workers, or how that's going to ruin small businesses.
On the contrary, I see what happens when people who *have* sick days don't use them—sickness travels through my floor like lightning whenever someone is "too busy to stay home sick," leaving the rest of us ill and productivity shot. That costs way more than our salary for that day.
(And there's a BIG difference between health insurance and a few measly sick days, and you know that. One is about coverage for illness and accidents; the other is about being able to pay for your groceries and keeping you from infecting others. Seriously, argue fair.)
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This bill would give people who have been working for a small business FULL TIME for 1 year 40 hours of paid sick time. That's 5 days that are earned by the employee.
What ridiculous on it's face is saying employees shouldn't stay home when they're sick. If you're sick and you gotta make rent, you're working. Unless you don't have to. I'm sick of people who have sick days, probably including yourself, telling people that don't they don't deserve a few days off when they're sick.
And as far as retaliation goes, what's to stop an employer right now from removing said employee from the schedule? Nothing. The ordinance would make retaliation against an employee for calling in sick illegal.
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