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