Last month, Rep. Rosa DeLauro had her sights trained on a state-level proposal requiring businesses to offer paid sick days. This week, she’s making a federal push on that issue.
The 3rd District Democrat plans to introduce a bill in Congress this week that would require most employers to let their workers earn paid sick time. DeLauro has long linked this employee right to public health; businesses that don’t give paid sick leave end up forcing ill employees to come to work, spreading germs and sicknesses, she says.
Her proposal, the Healthy Families Act, would allow workers to earn up to 7 days of paid sick time-with 1 hour earned for every 30 hours worked.
This isn’t the first time DeLauro has pushed this bill. Her first Senate co-sponsor was then Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. After he passed away, Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., took up the mantle.
Now, she’s looking to Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, to be her Senate partner in the push. But the bill’s prospects for passage are slim to none. The proposal stalled even in the last Congress, when Democrats controlled both chambers.
Now that Republicans rule the House and have greater strength in the Senate, the bill is likely to suffer a quick death.