06/02/09 Democratic majority Hurting business

To the editor:

With the state facing a nearly $9 billion budget deficit, the Democratic majority has worked hard at addressing every issue other than the budget. We've debated the death penalty and universal health care. We've also debated frog dissection, paintball guns and water lettuce.

The Democrats have advanced another measure that not only does not deal with the deficit, but makes the economic climate in this state worse: a bill that mandates employers provide paid sick leave to employees.

Substitute House Bill 6187 would require all businesses employing 50 or more people to provide paid sick leave to all of their employees. It would allow those employees to accrue sick leave at the rate of one hour for every 40 hours worked and accrue up to 52 hours of paid leave per year, which would be carried over from one year to the next.

The bill's advocates claim that the measure is needed and working families shouldn't lose money just because either they or their children are sick. This is a noble goal; however, a heavy financial downside accompanies it. And what does accrued sick leave have to do with providing parents paid leave to take care of the immediate problem of staying home with a sick child?

What the advocates don't tell you is the largest government body in the United States that has enacted this kind of law is the city of San Francisco -- long the home to fascinating social policies such as granting citizenship to dolphins.

Forcing a struggling business to take on this burden of paid sick leave could result in the loss of that business. For a worker, instead of having a job without sick leave, he may have no job at all. He'll find his former employer has moved to another state, leaving him behind.

Democrats use businesses as cash-laden piñatas at which they blindly flail their anti-business sticks. Instead, the state should be doing everything possible to retain existing businesses and lure new companies to Connecticut, making our state more attractive and more competitive than our neighboring states. That's the way we grow jobs, increase revenue and create a positive bottom line.

Livvy R. Floren

Lile R. Gibbons

Fred Camillo

Greenwich