New Sick Day Law Takes Effect in San Francisco

Feb. 7, 2007 — -- When Leonardo Prado's 4-year-old son was sick, he had to pay a baby sitter $10 an hour to take care of him while Prado went to work and made only $8.88 an hour.

A new law in San Francisco says Prado will never face that cost again.

The law, the first in the country, supplies paid sick leave to all San Francisco employees.

Approved by 61 percent of San Francisco voters in November, the law requires one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked. That could add up to approximately nine sick days a year for full-time employees.

Sick leave is granted if the employee, a family member, domestic partner or unrelated person is ill. The law requires employees to register unrelated persons each year.

It's a huge relief to many employees who have to pay for child care if they can't stay home with a sick child.

"At least I know … that my son, because I'm a single father, if he is sick, there's a law that will protect us," Prado said.

Employers are concerned about the cost, though. They'll have to spend more money on payroll when an employee calls in sick.

"It requires double pay for me because I have to pay for the sick person and another body," said Cathie Guntli, owner of the Liberty Cafe, which employs 28 people.

"It would be one thing if they were sick, but this really gives them carte blanche to say, 'I'm not sick but my roommate is,'" Guntli said.

Employee support groups say the cost won't hurt employers as much as they think.

"Most businesses will raise the costs of their goods and services, and I know customers won't mind knowing that the people serving them won't get them sick," said Naomi Nakamura, a volunteer with Young Workers United in San Francisco.

The legislation will prevent the 116,000 workers in San Francisco from spreading illnesses at work. They are food servers, child day-care workers and retail employees.

"You don't want to have people showing up to work sick and passing that on to their customer," Nakamura said.

Some workers admit that their work suffers when they have to work sick. Sometimes they have to spend their break time resting.