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Bipartisan Support Emerges for Paid Time off In Domestic Violence Situations

SB 492 lets workers use sick days for court appearance and other personal business for victims of domestic violence and sex crimes. A separate effort, requiring paid time off, is more partisan but also with a good chance of passage.
January 28, 2015

Women caught up in domestic violence situations would not have to pretend to be sick to use the sick days they’ve earned to take time off work, under a bipartisan proposal introduced to the Oregon Senate.

Senate Bill 492 gives workers the right to use their paid sick days or personal business days for court appearances, moving or other personal business needed if they’ve been victims of domestic violence, harassment, sexual assault or stalking.

The bill is a joint effort by Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson, D-Gresham, and two Republicans -- Sen. Jackie Winters of Salem and Sen. Chuck Thomsen of Hood River.

Monnes Anderson told The Lund Report that the proposal came out of discussions of the Oregon Commission for Women, on which she sits. The commission heard anecdotal cases of those unable to use sick leave for such chores as going to court or relocating as a result of a domestic violence situation.

SB 492 applies only to situations when employees already have the benefit of taking paid time off, and it is unrelated to another bill -- Senate Bill 454 -- that requires employers to provide employees with the opportunity to earn sick days.

“If they already have sick leave, they can use it,” explained Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward, D-Beaverton. “Most employers already do this. Laws only really matter for people not doing the right thing.”

Steiner Hayward has signed on as a co-sponsor, as have Sen. Tim Knopp, R-Bend, and Sen. Richard Devlin, D-Tualatin. Rep. Jessica Vega Pederson, D-Portland, and Rep. Ann Lininger, D-Lake Oswego, are championing SB 492 in the House.

But SB 492 would benefit only about half of Oregon women -- the half fortunate enough to have any paid time off at all, either for the flu or personal business.

Steiner Hayward said that 47 percent of the Oregon workforce doesn’t have access to paid time off, leaving them to take a pay cut when they can’t work -- or increasing the risk they’ll spread infectious disease to the public if they don’t want to lose out on income.

Mandatory sick leave in Oregon -- proposed under SB 454 -- received a significant boost when President Obama listed it as one of his top priorities in this month’s State of the Union address, asking Congress to follow the lead of Massachusetts voters and pass a national act requiring employers to provide seven days of earned sick time, and encouraging states to adopt their own laws if Congress doesn’t act.

Oregon, the only state in the country to increase its Democratic majorities in both chambers this November, seems well-poised to become the fourth state to mandate paid sick leave, after Massachusetts, Connecticut and California.

Portland and Eugene already require employers to offer paid sick leave, as do Seattle and Tacoma, Wash. Steiner Hayward, the chief sponsor of SB 454, said she had participated in a stakeholder group in the past year that included labor advocates as well as business groups. She prefers a statewide law rather than more ordinances passed by municipalities -- arguing that a statewide approach would be easier to manage for businesses.

Even if the participating business groups never came around to supporting mandatory paid sick leave, she said that the stakeholder group discussion did work to hammer out the new legislation, which incorporates some suggestions from the business community, such as the ability of employees to swap shifts if they’re sick rather than rely on paid time off.

“I think it’s appropriate that Oregon be at the forefront,” Steiner Hayward said. “I think we’ve got 16 in the Senate,” she added -- the number needed to pass the bill and send it to the Oregon House, where House Majority Leader Val Hoyle, D-Eugene, has signed on as chief sponsor. Gov. John Kitzhaber has also supported the policy publicly.

Both SB 454 and SB 492 must first face votes in the Senate Workforce Committee, chaired by Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland, who championed paid sick leave in the 2013 session, when it remained on the Democratic wishlist.

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