Paid sick leave may be next big cause

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A national movement to mandate paid sick leave for all workers has gotten a lift from a proposition passed by San Francisco voters this month.

Under Proposition F, all businesses with 10 or fewer workers must provide up to 40 hours of paid sick leave to employees, while larger companies must guarantee up to 72 hours.

Workers get one hour of sick leave for 30 hours worked, beginning 90 days after the employee starts at the company. The hours will carry over year to year, but never exceed the cap.

Unlike some plans in force, employers won't pay out for unused time off when a worker leaves the company.

Under Proposition F, workers can take the leave not just for themselves but for any child, parent, spouse, relative, or domestic partner.

Employers that already provide paid sick leave at the levels outlined in the ordinance are exempted.

The umbrella organization that pushed for Proposition F, the Coalition for Paid Sick Days, counts among its members Young Workers United, a youth immigrant worker advocacy organization; Parents Voice, which supports affordable child care; and the Chinese Progressive Association, and the Service Employees International Union.

Sara Flocks, of Young Workers United, says there are state and city efforts to enact similar legislation in Maine, Massachusetts, Wisconsin. Vermont, Washington, D.C., and others.

The local measure mimics the strategy used by the raise-the-minimum-wage campaigns that first targeted the wages of specific industries in specific cities.

Raise-the-minimum-wage campaigns proved to be the first wave of a movement that eventually caught on at the state level in the late 1990s, and resulted in Ohio, Arizona, Missouri, Nevada, Montana, and Colorado passing minimum wage hikes in the 2006 midterm election.

A total of 29 states currently have a minimum wage higher than the federal level.

Among the opponents to paid leave are groups representing small business.

"For the most part, politicians and the public will view this as too interventionist and an unnecessary burden on small business," said Karen Kerrigan, President & CEO, Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council.

With the Democratic takeover of Congress, it may not take a grassroots move to make paid sick days mandatory.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., introduced the Healthy Families Act in 2005 to create legislation at the federal level to do what Proposition F will do in San Francisco.

The Healthy Families Act will "guarantee working Americans seven paid sick days to care for their own and their families' medical needs," according to a release from the senator's office.

Kennedy has listed the Healthy Families Act as a legislative priority for Congress in 2007. A spokeswoman at DeLauro's offices says the congresswoman plans to do the same.

Opponents of the paid-leave ordinance are not sure the legislative approach - be it local, state or federal - will catch on.

"Mandates at the local and state level always have the potential to build momentum for action at the federal level," Kerrigan said.

But she pointed out, "San Francisco has laws and mandates that simply wouldn't cut it anywhere else. While other liberal cities, or states for that matter, may think this mandate is a great model, most will not view it that way."

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