Lawmakers Consider Paid Sick Leave Mandate

You're in a restaurant. Your waitress approaches your table with your meal. And then...

She sneezes.

And you wonder, if she's got a cold, why is she not at home.

Well, we ask this question because currently, the United States has no national sick leave law. And just last month, Connecticut became the first state in the country to enact a law requiring paid sick leave to most hourly employees.

Massachusetts may become the second state.

Two bills on Beacon Hill would mandate paid sick leave for all Massachusetts employees. The proposals, if passed, would go farther than Connecticut's law.

Which is why many advocates say now is exactly the time to be pushing for paid sick leave in the Commonwealth. While small business owners and retailers say - in the midst of a recession, with the state not fully rebounding - you couldn't ask for a worse time to yoke employers with another unfunded mandate from the state.

The debate over paid sick leave. That's today's talker.

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