DC Council Acts on Paid Sick Bill

After a year-long campaign and months of pressuring the DC City Council to act, supporters of paid sick and safe days for DC workers celebrated the passage of the Accrued Sick and Safe Days Act (formerly the “Paid Sick and Safe Days Act’) out of committee Monday evening. "What a great early holiday gift for tens of thousands of our working bothers and sisters," says Metro Council President Jos Williams. The Act would provide all DC workers with a limited number of paid days to use when they or a family member falls ill or to address domestic abuse and would be only the second bill of its kind in the country. “Without paid sick days, too many workers face the impossible decision of going to work when they or a family member are ill, or losing their pay and, in some cases, their jobs,” says Karen Minatelli of the DC Employment Justice Center. The Act - introduced by Councilmember Phil Mendelson in May - languished in committee for over six months and supporters worried the bill might not be moved out of committee before the end of 2007. But an intense e-mail and lobbying campaign last week helped to convince Councilmember Schwartz - who chairs the committee that took up the Act - to pass the bill. “We applaud Councilmember Schwartz and the Committee for moving forward on this important legislation,” Minatelli says. The Act is expected to receive a first vote by the full Council in January.