Bill Would Give Md. Workers Paid Sick Time Off

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Most Maryland workers have paid time off from their employers to take care of a sick child, an ailing parent or when they become sick themselves--but some workers go without those benefits.

Gigi Barnett explains state lawmakers are now considering a bill that would give them sick time off.

"I would do anything I had to to take care of my family," Megan Sennett said.

Even go to work sick. That's what Megan Sennett did about a year and a half ago to keep her three part-time jobs. She ignored signs of illness because none of her positions offered paid sick leave.

"I spiked a fever of about 103 and ended up in the emergency room and I had a severe kidney infection," Sennett said.

She told her story at a Senate hearing. Lawmakers are considering a bill that allows workers to earn paid sick time at companies with more than nine employees.

Some small businesses, like the marketing firm Sennett works for, don't offer the benefit.

"I can tell you about the hundreds of people I have treated who had the flu or infectious diarrhea who went to work anyway," said Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen, who backs the bill.

Dr. Wen says workers with sick leave tend to be healthier, and those without it often work sick for fear of losing their jobs, ending up infecting many more people.

"Twelve and a half percent of food service workers show up to work when they're actively vomiting and having diarrhea. And more than half of all foodborne illness outbreaks are due to employees showing up to work sick," Dr. Wen said.

But business owners fired back, telling lawmakers that many of them already offer some sort of paid sick time off. Plus, the proposed bill would cut right into their bottom line.

"This goes across all industries. I'm only here speaking for a lot of the smaller industries that can't afford this," said John Kelly, Kelly Generator and Equipment.

Health workers say in other cities that have adopted a similar law, they've seen a dramatic drop in the number of flu cases. Some of those cities include Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Seattle.

Montgomery County passed a similar bill last summer, giving workers their paid sick leave.