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Demand Vote for Paid Sick Leave Bill in NYC
  1. Signatures
    306 out of 500
    Petitioning
    1. New York City Council Speaker (Christine Quinn)
  2. Created By
    Lauren Kelley
    Brooklyn, NY
About this Petition Petition Letter Petition Updates

New York City is currently considering a bill which would require businesses in the city to provide between five and nine paid sick days for all workers.

Supporters estimate that 1.3 million workers in New York lack any sick days at all. This bill would enable employees, including many who can't afford not to get paid for even one day, to tend to their own mental and physical health needs and also care for sick spouses, children, partners and other family members. (All the while protecting consumers from interacting with sick cashiers, food service workers and more.) Therefore, the law would have the greatest positive impact on working mothers and caretakers, who need all the help they can get.

As it turns out, the bill has far more proponents than detractors on the City Council — in fact, it had a veto-proof majority as of September — but City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has declined to take a formal position, indicating that she was waiting on the results of a pro-business study to make a decision on whether the bill should come up for a vote.

Tell Speaker Quinn to allow the paid sick leave act to come up for a vote, so New York's workers can get the rights they deserve.

Photo credit: meddygarnet

Recent Signatures

Allow Vote for Paid Sick Leave Bill in NYC

Greetings,

Speaker Quinn, I urge you to allow the paid sick leave bill to come up for a vote in the New York City Council. Although a recently published business-backed study contends that some 375,000 workers, or about 12 percent of the city's workforce, currently lack paid sick day benefits, according to supporters of the bill, the figure is more like 1.3 million workers — a fairly huge discrepancy, but one backed up by national Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

The bill would enable city employees, including many who can't afford not to get paid for even one day, to tend to their own mental and physical health needs and also care for sick spouses, children, partners and other family members. (All the while protecting consumers from interacting with sick cashiers, food service workers and more.) Therefore, the law would have the greatest positive impact on working mothers and caretakers, who need all the help they can get.

Please allow the paid sick leave act to come up for a vote, so New York workers can get the rights they deserve.

[Your name]

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