Voters resoundingly backed paid sick leave. Now lawmakers in 3 states want to roll back the benefits

By DAVID A LIEB MARGERY A BECK and BECKY BOHRER Associated Press JEFFERSON CITY Mo AP Voters in Alaska Missouri and Nebraska were inquired last year whether they yearned to require employers to provide paid sick leave to their workers They overwhelmingly noted yes Now specific lawmakers in each of those states are trying to roll back the benefits citing concerns from businesses about costs The efforts mark the latest attempt by legislators to alter laws backed by the voters they represent In February for example Michigan enacted revisions to a paid sick leave law initiated by voters seven years ago delaying the date when small businesses must comply and allowing a longer period before new employees are eligible Though several voters are outraged a few lawmakers contend that citizen activists who crafted the initiatives overlooked the realities of running a business Restaurant owner Tim Hart who employs about two dozen workers at his steakhouse in Hannibal Missouri revealed the paid sick leave requirement imposes a double financial hit because he must pay one person to stay home and another to fill the shift When this goes into effect we very likely won t survive mentioned Hart who has urged the state Senate to halt the law The paid sick leave laws are set to kick in Thursday in Missouri July in Alaska and Oct in Nebraska McDonald s restaurant worker Richard Eiker is among those who stand to benefit He signed a petition putting the initiative on the Missouri ballot and traveled of late from Kansas City to the state Capitol to lobby lawmakers to let the law stand In years on the job Eiker has never received paid sick leave not even when he was struggling with a kidney stone I just took various pain medication and just went into work anyway and just worked past the pain Eiker reported It would have been nice to have stayed home Lower-wage workers are less likely to get paid sick leave Federal law requires a large number of employers to provide up to weeks of unpaid leave for personal or family physiological issues But there is no federal mandate to pay for sick days Related Articles The US regime has a new agenda for terminating international students legal status FACT FOCUS Trump touts his accomplishments at days but at times falls short on the facts Judge skeptical of Trump administration argument that federal courts can t review perimeter declaration Wisconsin high court suspends Milwaukee judge accused of helping man evade immigration leadership Trump administration tells Congress it plans to label Haitian gangs as foreign terror organizations Nonetheless of private-sector employees received paid sick leave last year according to the Department of Labor Part-time workers were significantly less likely to receive the benefit than their full-time counterparts And just of employees in the bottom quarter of income earners received paid sick leave compared with in the top quartile Though still discretionary for several employers the number of states mandating paid sick leave has grown significantly since Connecticut enacted the first such law in Last year s ballot measures raised the total to states and the District of Columbia Three additional states require paid leave for any reason without specifying sickness A multitude of paid sick leave laws including the ones in Alaska Missouri and Nebraska apply to any employer with at least one worker But chosen states exempt the smallest businesses with cutoffs ranging from five to employees The number of annual paid sick days also varies Missouri lawmaker wants it to be less onerous for employers On Tuesday the state Supreme Court upheld Missouri s paid sick leave law against a challenge from business groups But efforts to revise it continue In March Republican House members passed bill to repeal the paid sick leave requirement That was then blocked by minority-party Democrats in the Senate So Republicans are pushing an alternative that would delay the law until later this year exempt smaller businesses and take away workers ability to sue over alleged violations The intent is to just make it a little less onerous on employers explained Republican state Sen Mike Bernskoetter a small business owner who is backing the bill But countless workers already have it tough Democratic lawmakers disclosed When there s people living paycheck to paycheck just missing a little bit of work can really put them behind Democratic state Sen Patty Lewis explained Nebraska senator warns of huge overstep by colleagues Bill pushed by Republican lawmakers in Nebraska state would carve out exceptions from paid sick leave for - and- -year-old employees temporary and seasonal agricultural workers and businesses with or fewer employees The measure also would strip workers of the ability to sue employers who retaliate against them for using paid sick leave Supporters of the revisions say they aim to protect small businesses from higher costs Opponents say they are essentially gutting the law We re talking about just whole swaths of the ballot language being stricken by this state Sen John Cavanaugh commented during latest debate That is a huge overstep by this Legislature to say that we know better than the people who voted for this Alaska labor leader foresees long battle over voters wishes A bill by state Rep Justin Ruffridge would exempt seasonal workers and businesses with fewer than employees from the sick leave requirement That could exclude several catering to Alaska s summer tourists Ruffridge a member of the House s Republican minority explained small business owners should be able to choose whether to spend money on sick leave benefits or other measures to grow their businesses Joelle Hall president of the Alaska AFL-CIO which supported the ballot measure doubts Ruffridge s bill will gain traction in the final weeks of this year s session But she disclosed I believe this is the beginning of a long battle to protect the voters wishes from the wills and the whims of the businesspeople who don t want to pay sick days Beck released from Lincoln Nebraska and Bohrer from Juneau Alaska