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STATE HOUSE

Sick pay bill laid to rest

By Susan M. Cover scover@mainetoday.com
State House Bureau

AUGUSTA -- The Legislature's Labor Committee voted 9-2 Monday against a bill that would have prohibited Maine businesses from firing employees who take a sick day.

The bill, sponsored by Senate President Elizabeth Mitchell, D-Vassalboro, started out as a requirement that Maine businesses provide paid sick days to employees.

But after opposition from the business community, Mitchell presented an amendment that would have allowed employees to sue employers who they felt improperly fired them for taking a sick day. Employees would have been protected from termination as long as they took five or fewer legitimate sick days in a 12-month period.

Without discussion, the committee voted quickly Monday to reject the bill, with only two members supporting it.

"So much opposition was raised by the business community, it drowned out all the efforts to explain there really was a problem," Mitchell said.

Just minutes before the vote, the Maine Restaurant Association distributed a letter to the committee that said the bill could be "devastating to Maine small businesses."

"Please protect Maine employers from poorly drafted laws," Maine Restaurant Association President Dick Grotton wrote.

Strong opposition also came from the Maine State Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business in Maine.

The bill was a priority this session for the Maine Women's Lobby, which started promoting the measure last fall as one way to help workers who had the H1N1 virus.

Maine Women's Lobby Executive Director Sarah Standiford said she found it "inconceivable" the committee didn't support even the stripped-down version of the bill.

"I'm extremely disappointed that the Labor Committee failed to stand up for working people," she said.

Labor Committee Chairman Rep. John Tuttle, D-Sanford, said he favored an amended version of the bill that would have required all large Maine businesses to offer paid sick days. He said he did not like the section of the new proposal that imposed fines on businesses.

"It got amended so much, sometimes as chairman of a committee, you have to do hard things," he said.

Because the bill did get some support -- Rep. Anna Blodgett, D-Augusta, and Rep. Paul Gilbert, D-Jay, voted for it -- it will move forward to the full Legislature for consideration.

"I have a sense of responsibility to everyday people, to the everyday worker," Blodgett said. "I vote for what I believe in and I believe in this."

Susan Cover -- 620-7015

scover@centralmaine.com