ADVISORY: Tuesday June 10th, 11:30 AM, Capitol Building, South Steps

For more information, contact:
Joe Dinkin 860-523-1699 or 978-223-5868 (cell) or jdinkin@workingfamiliesparty.org

Who: Representative Joe Aresimowicz, Representative Kevin Ryan and other legislators, along with Members of Working Families, Momsrising.org, ACORN, labor unions, public health advocates and other members of the Everybodybenefits.org coalition in support of the Paid Sick Days bill (SB 217).

What: Advocates of the Paid Sick Days bill will urge the leadership of the House and Senate to bring the Paid Sick Days bill onto the Agenda for this week’s Special Session.

The advocates will hang a clothesline of hand-decorated baby-onesies outside the Capitol to underscore how important Paid Sick Days are to allow working families to take care of themselves.

Where: Capitol Building, South Steps, Hartford

When: 11:30 AM, Tuesday, June 10th.

Why: The Paid Sick Days bill garners broad support from a wide range of voters during the legislative session. While the Senate voted to approve the bill, the legislative session ended without any action from the house. The rally will encourage the House to give the bill the fair floor vote it deserves.

Background:

Hartford – Advocates of the Paid Sick Days Bill will meet on the South Steps of the Capitol tomorrow morning at 11:30 AM to hang a clothesline of hand-decorated baby-‘onesies’ to underscore the importance of earning paid sick days to working Families, the day before the state of the legislature’s special session. The legislators and advocates present will urge the legislature to bring the Paid Sick Days bill to a vote in the upcoming special session.

The Paid Sick Days bill, SB 217, would allow Connecticut workers at companies of 50 employees or more would be able to earn one hour of sick time for every forty hours worked – that comes out to six and a half days of sick time per year for a full time employee. Employees could use those paid sick days to take care of themselves or a child in the event of illness.

The landmark public health measure passed through Connecticut’s State Senate with a bipartisan vote of 20 –16, after making its way through the Labor, Judiciary and Appropriations Committees. However, the session ended without the bill ever receiving a vote on the floor of the house.

The National Partnership for Women and Families last month released the first-ever economic impact analysis of Paid Sick Days legislation in Connecticut. The study found that the savings for many businesses of providing paid sick days outweighs the costs.

“This bill turns out to be a benefits for employers, employees and the public health,” said Steffany Stern, policy Analyst with the National Partnership for Women and Families. “The costs to businesses of providing paid sick days are outweighed by the benefits of reduced spread of disease in the workplace, and reduced turnover.”

Earlier this year, the EverybodyBenefits.org coalition announced the results of a public opinion poll on Paid Sick Days. 87% of poll respondents indicated support for paid sick days as a basic workplace standard.

Connecticut Working Families is a coalition of community organizations, labor unions and neighborhood activists who united to fight for a fair economy. Working Families was formed to inject issues like healthcare, affordable housing, and livable wages and labor standards into the public debate, and to hold politicians accountable on those issues.