A bill promoting earned sick and safe time for Minnesota workers made an appearance in its first committee hearing today in both the House and Senate.
Supporters of the legislation have pointed to statistics that show nearly a million primarily lower-wage workers lack access to paid time off to deal with medical issues for themselves or family members.
The Senate bill is sponsored by DFL Senator Sandy Pappas of St. Paul. Pappas says that “this is also a public health issue.”
Pappas said that some of the “employees least likely to have paid sick time” work jobs in industries like food service. She added that this is dangerous as many workers in the industry choose “to come in and work on the same side of that sneeze guard as your food, all because they need their paycheck.”
Situations like this put more at risk than just the worker, as Pappas noted that it “can have a real health implication for the general public.”
Pappas says the Senate measure is similar to the ordinance already in effect in St. Paul and many other cities and states.
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