In San Francisco, we passed Paid Sick Leave a few years back. This week, the Assembly passed AB 2716 to provide similar benefits statewide. Listen to a KQED program on the bill live here.
Some details of the plan from the SacBee:
Under AB 2716, businesses of 10 employees or more would be required to provide up to nine days of sick leave per year. Smaller firms would provide up to five days. … Full-time and part-time workers would earn one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked. The benefit could be used after 90 days of employment.
As Roger Niello, a Republican Assemblyman, notes on the radio show, over 60% of employers already provide paid sick leave. Of course, the Republicans feel that it shouldn’t be required by the government. You know the whole arguments, costs are too high, small business won’t succeed, yada yada.
But as was shown in San Francisco, much of this is the Chamber of Commerce crying wolf. When sick workers come to work, they are not productive and get other employees sick. You make a bad situation worse. The cost savings of providing paid sick leave in turnover, etc. The Drumm Major Institute has a nice statistics page on this. (h/t CPR)
This is a good idea, and the Governor should sign this bill when it gets there.