A nominee for the new liberal buzz word of 2006 is Presenteeism, defined as lost productivity that occurs when employees come to work but perform below par due to any kind of illness. Presenteeism is being used as the rationale for liberal attempts to make almost all employment include employer paid sick leave time. Left wing thinking is concerned about income for the poor and this is the latest attempt to use government to mandate income to individuals, other than compensation for work. The political effort to enact presenteeism justified policy has started locally in Madison.
2006 Madison City Council Issues The paid sick leave ordinance proposal initiated by the Healthy Families, Health City campaign will likely come before the full council sometime in February, according to Van Rooy. He says he's unsure of the outcome on the matter (and is unlikely to support the proposal, per earlier comments), with significant numbers lining up both for and against the proposal.Progressive Dane has a proposed ordinance on the Madison City Council agenda which requires employers to budget and fund paid sick leave for almost all employees in the city limits. An organized group is coordinating this latest in a series of municipal level mandates on people who have chosen to live and work Capital City.
Healthy Families Madison The Campaign introduced an ordinance at the September 20, 2005 Madison Common Council meeting. The ordinance was co-sponsored by nine Alders (Benford, Gruber, King, Knox, Konkel, Olson, Rosas, Verveer, and Webber). … This ordinance would require all employers within the City of Madison to provide their workers with at least 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours the employees work.The Healthy Families website lists the Dane County Democratic Party as supporters and I believe Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and his mentor Kathleen Falk will support passage of this anti-business ordinance, if Progressive Dane can deliver the two or three additional votes needed for passage. The Democratic Party of Wisconsin will support this municipal level action because it is exactly what the National Democratic Party is proposing at the Federal Level. Sen. Russ Feingold is a co-sponsor of S.932 Healthy Families Act which pairs with H.R. 1902 Healthy Families Act in the House. (retype the bill number into search screen for text)
Just like the Smoking Ban and Municipal Minimum Wage, the City of Madison probably will enact the nation’s first Mandatory Sick Pay requirement this year. Wisconsin Courts will likely uphold the precedent if there is no direct logical conflict with State law, and good restaurants may be relocating to Monona and Middleton. The Democrats are depending on health care issues for votes and they will savor every policy victory they can achieve.
