Monday, August 15, 2011

Denver's Mandatory Sick Leave

I love DUMB ballot initiatives. Why? Because they are so much fun to tear apart, like the one requiring Denver businesses to provide 40 to 72 hours of paid sick leave every year.

On the surface, this seems OK. After all, if you are sick you should stay home.

Proponents of this initiative say that lack of paid sick days, "poses a serious health problem not only for affected workers but also for their families, their employers, the health care system of Denver and the community as a whole".

It's a MIRACLE! This one initiative apparently will eradicate serious health problems for the affected worker, their family, their employers, the health care system of Denver, and the entire community.

I think there should be a "Responsibility Affidavit" attached to all ballot issues. Basically, it would hold those responsible for bringing forward such "snake oil" ideas, in the event they do not accomplish their intended benefits.
Who pays for these crazy ideas? Denver businesses? NEWS FLASH! Denver businesses can only pay any cost increases by raising their prices for the services and products they provide.

You say, "but most of us have paid sick days, and maybe this is just to force unreasonable employers to offer reasonable availability to time off".

What if this ballot, if passed, would allow an employee to utilize these sick hours in any time allotment from 1 hour to 3 days with no question as to their validity, AND then for the next 90 days; any disciplinary action brought forth by the employer would be considered to be retaliatory action for the sick time and the employer would be held as guilty unless he could prove otherwise.

That's exactly what this ballot issue calls for. An employee can take one "sick day" every 3 months, and their job is safe from any disciplinary action for the next 3 months. Tell the boss to stick it in his ear if he doesn't like the job they're doing, or the employee will say it's retaliatory because they took a day off.

The proponents of this initiative define retaliatory action as; "Retaliatory personnel action" means the discharge, suspension, demotion or other adverse action taken by the employer against an employee who exercises his or her rights under this Article and also includes any sanctions against a recipient of public benefits.

Whoa! Wasn't this about providing sick days?

I'll post more about this soon, and please share it with everyone you know.

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