“Tonight, the state Senate put Connecticut one giant step closer to adopting a statewide paid sick days standard. This is good for workers in the state, and an exciting conclusion to debate in the state Senate. We urge the state House to pass the measure soon, allowing Governor Malloy to sign it into law. Then Connecticut’s working families will celebrate a major and meaningful victory as hundreds of thousands of Connecticut workers win the right to earn paid sick time.
Connecticut will then join San Francisco and the District of Columbia as trail blazers on this issue, which is critically important to voters and working families.
Senate Bill 913 is a modest, common sense bill that will benefit Connecticut workers, businesses and communities. Right now, nearly half a million workers in Connecticut have no access to paid sick days. When they get sick or a family member needs care, they are forced to choose between their paycheck and their health and the health of their co-workers and community. Everyone suffers when workers have to make that choice. Tonight’s vote shows that Connecticut legislators recognize the problem and are ready to do something about it.
The National Partnership has worked for years with the Connecticut Working Families Organization, the Everybody Benefits coalition and other allies and lawmakers in the state to get us to this day. We commend every member of this strong and diverse coalition, and every state senator who voted in the interests of workers this evening. Special thanks go to Senator Edith Prague for her years of leadership.
We look forward to the day when Connecticut establishes a paid sick days standard — and paves the way for all workers to have this basic right.”