Bloomberg Vetoes Sick Leave Law; Override Expected

Mayor Michael Bloomberg nixed a requirement for many city businesses to provide paid sick leave, but the City Council was expected to override Friday’s veto and make New York the most populous place in the United States with such a law.

The measure, passed last month, would provide an estimated one million workers with up to five paid sick days annually. Hundreds of thousands of others would get unpaid sick time, meaning they couldn’t be fired for staying home ill.

The veto was expected. In carrying it out Friday, Bloomberg said the motivation was laudable, but the law would burden businesses and saddle city regulators with checking out a new realm of complaints.

Advocates, however, say workers shouldn’t have to choose between their health and their paycheck.

Businesses with 20 or more workers would have to provide as many as five paid sick days a year beginning in April 2014; enterprises with 15 to 19 workers would have to follow suit by October 2015. All others would have to provide up to five unpaid sick days per year.

This article appeared in print on page 4 of the June 11th, 2013 edition of Hamodia.