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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 30, 2015)
News Page 8 Street Roots • January 30-February 5, 2015 ... And get plenty of rest Taking a few lessons from Portland and Eugene, lawmakers in Salem intend to make paid sick days a statewide standard CHRISTEN McCURDY S T A F F W R IT E R njeanette Brown lives in Portland and works in Gresham, For about a year, now, she’s been a waitress for a local restaurant that is part of a chain, and has worked with the parent company for 10 years, off-and on. Prior to taking her current position, Brown worked in construction for about three years.. After suffering a personal injury during a weekend camping trip, she continued to report to work because she couldn’t afford the time off, and her injury continued to get worse. She told Street Roots she still has problems related to it despite having changed jobs. A single mother of three sons - ages 16, 15 and 9 - Brown also struggles to care for them when they become ill. Earlier this, winter, when her youngest Child got the flu, one of her older sons had to stay home from school and care from him, because his high school would excuse the absence, but her employer would not, and she couldn’t afford to take the time away from her job. Nearly half — 47 percent — of private- sector workers in Oregon don’t have paid Eugene - now has its sights on securing sick days, and 71 percent of low-wage paid sick time for every worker in the state. earners (outside of Eugene and Portland) Sens. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward, don’t earn paid sick time on the job, D-Beaverton, and Jessica Vega Peterson, according to data from the Institute for D-Portland, plan to introduce a bill during Women’s Policy Research and released by the legislative session that would extend Family Forward Oregon. paid sick time statewide. It’s a little more Nationwide, 16 percent of workers have generous than the Portland ordinance, reported being fired for taking time off to which came into effect January 2014, in that care for a sick family member or to cope it allows workers to earn seven sick days with an illness or injury of their own, every year instead of just five. The statewide according to a 2010 survey by the National effort also doesn’t make exceptions based Opinion Research Center. Many more live in on the size of the company. The Portland fear that they will be fired for missing: work law protects workers in companies with five due to illness or injury, and the fear is more employees or fewer from being fired due to deeply felt in communities of Color: 44 lost time bût does hot require that they be percent of white workers fear they will be compensated while they’re gone. Eugene’s fired for missing any work time, compared law, passed last summer and effective next with 56 percent of Latino workers and 75 July, is similar to Portland’s but covers percent of African-American workers. everyone, regardless of the size of their Family Forward — which was at the employer. forefront of the successful campaigns to The bill also expands the definition of pass sick and safe protection in Portland and ■ “family” to mean “related by blood or affinity.” The Portland ordinance uses a state-codified-definition of family members: spouses (and same-sex domestic partners); biological, adoptive or foster parents or children; grandparents or grandchildren; parent-in-laws or people with whom employees have an “in loco parentis” relationship. The broadened definition would allow workers to take time off to care for nieces, nephews, siblings, unmarried partners or others they consider a part of their family. Steiner Hayward told Street Roots one key feature of the bill is that it would create a single set of rule's for businesses around the state so that employers with work sites in more than one city have a streamlined policy to work with. “We think it’s important and respectful to employers to only have to have them have See S IC K D A Y S, p a ge 9
