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Explore our coverage of government and politics.

Supporters Of Paid Sick Leave Gear Up For Another Legislative Fight

Angela Evancie
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VPR/file
A protester calls for paid sick leave at the kickoff of the 2014 legislative session. Advocates are preparing to push for similar legislation in 2015, but they may encounter some of the same resistance that scuttled the bill last year.

For about 60,000 Vermont workers, calling in sick to work means forfeiting a day’s pay. But lawmakers will soon consider legislation that would require businesses to provide paid sick leave. And the effort will encounter some of the same resistance that scuttled a similar bill last year. 

Stephanie Hainley, chief operating officer at White and Burke Real Estate Investment Advisors in Burlington, is a board member of Main Street Alliance, a new business advocacy group that wants lawmakers to require employers to provide workers with paid sick leave.

"None of us should have to choose between our health and our ability to support ourselves and our loved ones." - Stephanie Hainley, chief operating officer at White and Burke Real Estate Investment Advisors

“None of us should have to choose between our health and our ability to support ourselves and our loved ones,” Hainley says. “This bill ensures that all employers in Vermont provide jobs that build our communities, reflect our values and support our families.”

The paid sick leave bill was one of the high-profile casualties of the 2014 legislative session, done in by heavy opposition from business groups. But the leaders at Main Street Alliance hope that testimony from some prominent business women will convince legislators that 2015 is the year to proceed with the measure.

Supporters say the legislation isn’t merely about workers’ rights. Rather, they say public health, worker safety and child well-being all improve when parents can take a day off to tend to their sick kids, or avoid infecting their colleagues with flus, colds or other ailments.

“We’re committed to ensuring that workplace standards in Vermont promote public health and safety, and are responsive to the need of Vermonters workforce and families,” Hainley says.

Credit Peter Hirschfeld / VPR
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VPR
At a press conference in Burlington earlier this month, former Gov. Madeleine Kunin said lawmakers should adopt legislation that would require all Vermont employers to provide paid sick days to their workers.

But employers like Jeff Larson say the last thing they need is another government mandate. Larson owns the Gilmore Home Center in Bomoseen, where he employs 16 fulltime workers. He says business still isn’t back to its pre-recession peak.

Larson says he already offers paid sick days, and paid vacation.

“Right now we as a small business have the flexibility of winking at the early leave – somebody has a soccer game their daughter’s playing in, they can head out at 3:30 and catch the game,” Larson says.

But he says he has enough to worry about as it is without having to administer another government mandate.

“Moving into something more mandated, something where we’re accountable for hours worked, the accumulation of hours due, the hours that were taken, for something that we’re already providing, we just don’t feel it necessary, and it could add a level of accounting that takes extra time,” Larson says.

"Moving into something more mandated ... we just don't feel it necessary, and it could add a level of accounting that takes extra time." - Jeff Larson, owner of Gilmore Home Center

House Speaker Shap Smith says opposition from business owners like Larson resonated with lawmakers last year. And Smith says the paid sick day proposal from 2014 – it mandated a minimum of seven days paid sick time for fulltime employees – likely wouldn’t fare any better in 2015.

"I think the bill that was considered last year in the General, Housing and Military Affairs Committee still does not have enough support. I think if anything was going to have support, it would have to change pretty significantly." - House Speaker Shap Smith

“I think the bill that was considered last year in the General, Housing and Military Affairs Committee still does not have enough support,” Smith says. “I think if anything was going to have support, it would have to change pretty significantly.”

Senate Majority Leader Phil Baruth says supporters of the legislation are tweaking the bill, in an attempt to make it more palatable to organizations like the Vermont Chamber of Commerce, and National Federation of Independent Businesses.

“So currently we’re finalizing in the House and Senate versions of paid earned sick leave, but at least in my mind one of the strong ideas to be added to that bill is a waiting period of say 500 hours before people can access their earned leave,” Baruth says.

Baruth says the waiting period would give businesses time to prepare for the mandate.

The Vermont Statehouse is often called the people’s house. I am your eyes and ears there. I keep a close eye on how legislation could affect your life; I also regularly speak to the people who write that legislation.
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