Democrats on the legislature’s Labor Committee want to expand the state’s paid sick leave law to apply to all workers. It approved, anyone can earn up to 40 hours of paid sick time regardless of the size of the company they work for.
“Connecticut likes to lead and unfortunately this is an area where we were leaders in 2011, but we have fallen behind,” Sen. Julie Kushner (D-Danbury) said. “There are other states that are doing so much better on this issue than we are.”
Currently, any company with at least 50 employees is required by state law to over paid sick leave to all employees.
Kushner and Rep. Manny Sanchez (D-New Britain), co-chairs of the Labor Committee, said Friday during a press conference at the Legislative Office Building that they plan to submit a bill to expand the requirement to cover all employees.
That would mean every company would need to offer at least 40 hours of sick time annually to all workers. Companies can require workers to accrue time at a rate of one hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked.
“From sudden illness to family tragedies, there are a whole host of reasons why this bill is important,” Sanchez said.
The bill matches legislation that stalled last year when supporters rejected a compromise that would have required paid sick leave at more, but not all, companies.
The Connecticut Business and Industry Association said doing business in Connecticut is already expensive enough. Expanded paid sick leave would make crunch many businesses’ budgets.
“A lot of them are concerned that this is really going to hit their budgets hard, they’re really invested in recruiting and retaining the valuable talent that they have,” Ashley Zane, a senior public policy associate with CBIA, said.
Republicans shared those concerns.
“I’m concerned that the Democrats’ proposal to mandate that our state’s smallest employers provide paid sick days will, despite what its supporters contend, disrupt the finances and operation of small businesses throughout Connecticut and keep us trailing the rest of the country in economic growth and affordability,” Rep. Steve Weir (R-Hebron) said.
Workers, though, say it’s time they get the right to paid sick time.
“We are human beings and we also feel pain, we get sick,” domestic worker Patricia Brispo said.
Under the current law, employers simply need to offer at least 40 hours of paid time off that employees can use if they call out sick.
The time does not have to be designated as sick time if employees can use other forms of paid time off.