By Aaron Sanderford
OMAHA — The 250,000 Nebraskans working full-time without paid sick days might soon have other choices than ignoring illness or sending sick kids to school to avoid missing a day’s pay.
Local workers and advocates kicked off efforts Tuesday to gather signatures statewide for a ballot initiative that would require employers to provide a minimum of five to seven paid sick days for full-time employees, and some paid sick time off for the rest.
Jo Giles, executive director of the Women’s Fund of Omaha, part of the new group Paid Sick Leave for Nebraskans, said too many workers, including many in service industries, get none.
Which workers need help
Paid sick leave is rarest for employees in restaurants, hotels, construction, manufacturing, warehousing, retail, educational support and transportation, the group said.
The choices many workers face, especially working parents with young children, are “impossible,” Giles said. They either miss work and lose pay or keep going and risk getting others sick.
The need is increasing for many Nebraskans, she said, as grandparents age and more workers are responsible for taking care of their children and parents at the same time.
“No Nebraskans should have to choose between their paycheck and their health or the health of their family,” Giles said. “But thousands of Nebraskans don’t get any paid sick days.”
Choosing her son or paying bills
Hastings resident Sierra Edmisten, a single mother working in child care jobs and others, including retail, that didn’t offer paid sick leave, said she faced that choice when she learned that her son was going to be hospitalized for up to two weeks.
“I broke into tears, not because he was going to be in the hospital, but because I was terrified of losing that amount of pay,” she said. “I didn’t know how I was going to pay my rent.”
Edmiston’s son has a lung disease that requires numerous trips to the doctor, far from home, she said.
She now has a job with paid sick time and said she can feel the difference physically. She said she feels less stressed and can focus more on her son. She wants others to have the same benefit.
“This initiative offers a choice,” Edmisten said. “Together, we can close this gap that is scary and isolating for thousands of Nebraskans like me.”
Her experience of having to decide between work and pay or health care and financial stress is something OneWorld Community Health Centers CEO Andrea Skolkin said she sees daily in the clinics her group operates.
Too many people wait too long to seek medical care, she said.
Businesses want more details
Jennifer Creager, senior vice president of public policy at the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, said she and others in the local business community had been expecting a ballot measure one day but said the chamber needed more time to review the details. She spoke on behalf of the local and state chambers of commerce.
“The bigger pushback is from some of our smaller members,” she said. “Some are just concerned about covering … the work that needs to be done, especially in a work environment like this, where the workforce is a challenge for every employer.”
She said state and local chambers of commerce in Nebraska have been talking to their peers in Colorado, where voters recently passed an initiative requiring paid sick leave, and in Massachusetts, where state lawmakers adopted a similar measure.
Creager noted that many businesses recognize the need for paid sick leave and already offer it. Business owners, she said, would prefer to be able to design sick leave programs that work for their business and their employees, without a “mandate.”
“I think that would be employers’ preference in general,” she said.
Craig Moody, a business owner who is also an Omaha Public Power District board member, said his experience shows that being good to employees by offering paid sick time can help recruit and retain better talent.
Petition language spells out how it works
The petition stipulates that temporary, part-time and full-time workers would earn an hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked.
Businesses with fewer than 20 employees would be required to provide full-time employees with a minimum of five paid sick days per year. Larger businesses would have to provide at least seven. Part-time employees who work enough hours could reach the same amount.
Organizers said the initiative is aimed at “setting a floor,” or minimum, for paid sick leave. They say it would not override negotiated union contracts or accrued leave. The bill would cover seasonal or agricultural workers if they worked the 30 hours to qualify for paid sick time, Giles later clarified.
They did not disclose donors funding the effort. Giles said they expect a mix of grassroots local and national funding, much like the support for an initiative that was placed on the ballot and passed in 2022 to raise the minimum wage.
Senator happy voters might have say
State Sen. Tony Vargas of Omaha, who recently announced he is challenging U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., in a second bid for the 2nd Congressional District, attended the announcement and voiced support.
Vargas was among state senators who tried for years, unsuccessfully, to pass legislation requiring a baseline of sick days. Opponents called the mandate burdensome, especially to small businesses.
Vargas said small business owners and workers told senators during public hearings that people need financial freedom to make the best decisions for their families.
“This is about giving an option so that people can earn this time, and they’re working,” he said. “It’s good for the economy. It’s good for families. It’s good for individuals.”