Paid sick days will be an issue again this legislative session, and the matter has already got people, such as former Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy, talking.
Malloy, a Democrat who calls himself a potential candidate for governor, sent out a prepared statement Monday saying that he believes employers should provide paid sick leave to their employees. It is wrong to penalize workers for being ill, and offering paid sick leave is good public policy, he says in the release.
Also in the release, Malloy criticizes Ned Lamont, another Democrat exploring a run for governor, saying that “Ned doesn’t get it” and is disconnected from the average, working person in Connecticut.
Malloy’s release was in response to comments Lamont recently made to an online-only publication. Lamont has said that he doesn’t see a need for government to require small businesses to give paid sick leave and believes that such a measure would send the wrong message to businesses during tough economic times.
Malloy and Lamont’s comments bring a new twist to the old debate over whether the state should require employers to give workers paid sick time. It has now become both an election issue and a legislative issue.
As for lawmakers, they discussed paid sick leave bills in both 2008 and 2009, but never managed to get enough votes to bring the issue before the governor. Gov. M. Jodi Rell has said she opposes the concept, but if lawmakers can’t send a bill to her desk this year, or if they don’t have enough votes to override her veto, a new governor may be faced with the issue.
There is a long list of both Democrats and Republicans hoping to take Rell’s spot. She is not running for reelection.