They're just crossing their fingers for Ed Murray to win. In his DSA questionnaire he made a few subtle jabs at the measure and I'm guessing that he's not going to be too bothered if it's extremely watered down in the near term.

What's the enforcement mechanism? Is there one, or is it like the tenant "protections" in this city that have no government authority to act when tenants are abused by their landlords?

It's as much a cultural problem as a regulatory one...people may have paid sick leave and still come to work sick for a variety of sometimes good, often bad reasons, such as:

Desire to make an "ironman" impression;
A meeting that has to be attended in-person;
Fear of passive-aggressive reprisals by the company (not extending opportunities, etc);
Not wanting to fall too far behind

I can tell you at our place of business, we not only enforce the ordinance, but it has been used by something like half of the servers, cooks and brewers we have.

We had a problem of people taking too much sick leave (attempting to take available hours while also coming in to work), but definitely nothing on the other end.

Interesting.

I presume you removed all "businesses" that were non-profits (exempt, for some stupid excuse that makes no economic sense), state, county, or port owned.

The rules only apply to Seattle businesses.

I certainly hope that food service workers take sick time at home! We certainly don't need another "Typhoid Mary", what with MERS, MRSA and who knows what else floating about. Keep sickies off the bus too!

Sadly, there is belief that the flu actually manipulates people into being more social during the most contagious phase, just before the symptoms show up. So, we might be fucked anyway.

Not sure what the value of a study on the day a law goes into effect is. I would have waited until a few months after to survey.

"A study released today by the University of Washington..." Ahahaha. You have GOT to be kidding me. Hey Cienna, how about The Stranger follow this up with the University of Washington itself? Why? Because their UTemp program does not provide sick leave. You could get a six month contract and get not one day of sick leave. "Temporary employees do not accrue paid leave. However, temporary employees may be eligible for unpaid time away from work because of a disability or serious health condition, to care for a family member with a serious health condition, or for military leave." http://www.washington.edu/admin/hr/polpr…

@2: 14.16.080

@4: I love the ironic homophobia in your post.

I like working when sick. I am more focused because I don't have the extra energy to check my personal email every 5 mintues.

@10 um, the UW is State.

It doesn't care what County or City or Port regulations you issue are - by law it's exempt.

Nice try.

The researchers surveyed employers about the leave policies and practices they had in place *before Seattle’s paid sick and same time ordinance went into effect* (per City Council direction at the time they passed the ordinance). The results of the survey are clear: Absent laws requiring employers to provide sick leave, it is one of the least likely benefits to be offered in the private sector – and part-time workers are rarely covered. More highlights here: http://washingtonpolicywatch.org/2013/07…