Minnesota House Democrats passed a bill late Thursday night that requires businesses of all sizes to provide workers with six paid sick days off per year. The bill still needs Senate passage.
Under the “earned sick and safe time” bill (HF19), workers would accrue one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours they work up to 48 hours a year. Workers could use the time off for a number of reasons, including to recover from an illness, care for a sick family member, or because of a weather-related school or work closure.
“(This bill) ensures that the 900,000 Minnesotans who currently don’t have access to a single paid day off … would be able to have that human dignity of being able to stay home with a sick kid, to take care of themselves or a loved one,” said Rep. Liz Olson, DFL-Duluth, the lead author of the bill.
The rules would apply to part-time employees so long as they work at least 80 hours a year, but not federal workers or independent contractors. Workers can carry over unused paid sick leave from year to year and bank up to 80 hours total.
The bill passed over objections from Republicans, who sought exemptions for small businesses. They said small business owners often treat employees like family members, and the new rules were heavy-handed.
“The last thing we need to do is put another burden on small businesses as they try to grow,” said Rep. Danny Nadeau, R-Rogers. “Let...
Times of Malta's editorial team has demanded that alleged money-launderer Chris Spiteri remove false claims posted on Facebook against journalist Jacob Borg. An alert has also been filed with the ...