Poll Finds Majority of Voters Support Paid Sick Days
by Christine Stuart | April 17, 2008 9:00 AM
Posted to Labor
| State Capitol
The Connecticut Working Families Party released a poll Wednesday that showed 87 percent of the 500 Connecticut voters polled this April favor the idea of earning paid sick days.
“It is rare to see so many voters in any state support any kind of legislation,” Mark Bannon of Bannon Communications Research, the firm that conducted the poll said in a memo. The poll found 68.6 percent strongly favored the idea, 18.6 percent mildly favored it, while only 8 percent of the voters opposed it.
Working Families Party Executive Director Jon Green said this is the second year the bill has been introduced and he believes they have the votes to get it passed this year.
Last year the bill passed the Senate, but died on the House calendar.
“I think this is a reasonable measure that not only addresses the needs of employees, but also enhances public health in Connecticut,” Sen. John Kissel, R-Enfield, said in a press release.
Green said paid sick days would only apply to businesses with 25 or more employees. And only 52 hours of unused sick time in any given year could be rolled over to the next year. Green said it does not allow employees to cash out their sick time at the end of their employment unless the employer already allows for that scenario.
The bill would allow workers to accrue one hour of sick time for every 40 hours worked. Click here to read more about the legislation.
An estimated 40 percent of employees in Connecticut don’t have a single paid sick day all year. In the food service industry, nearly 80 percent of workers lack paid sick time, and these workers are the least likely to have access to preventative health care, according to Connecticut Working Families.
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