HARRISBURG -- An Allegheny County state legislator wants all full-time workers in Pennsylvania to get 6 1/2 days of paid sick time per year, an idea that is going over well with labor unions and women's groups but not so well with some business owners.

Currently, 46 percent of workers in private companies in the state don't get paid sick leave, Rep. Marc Gergely, D-White Oak, said Tuesday. This forces many to go to work sick, possibly infecting their co-workers, because they can't afford to stay home and miss a day's pay while they recover.

Mr. Gergely's measure, House Bill 1830, which is currently before the House Labor Relations Committee for consideration, would provide one hour of paid sick time for every 40 hours that a person works, up to a maximum of 52 hours -- 6 1/2 days -- per year.

A person would have to work at a job for 90 days before qualifying.

Those rules would apply to companies with at least 10 employees.

For those with nine or fewer, the employer would have to provide only one hour of paid sick leave for every 80 hours a person works, or no more than 26 hours per year.

"No one should have to make a choice between their job and their health, or their need to care for a loved one," Mr. Gergely said.

The bill is still subject to change, but Mr. Gergely said he'd like to allow employees to be able to carry over up to 40 hours of paid sick leave into the next calendar year.

One idea would be to have a worker's paid sick days simply lapse at the end of one year if not used.

Another possibility: If one worker wasn't sick during a 12-month period and thus didn't need to take his or her days of paid sick leave, the time could be put into a "sick day bank" and used by a worker who was sick for more than 6 1/2 days in a given year.

Women's groups said the paid sick time could also be used by a female employee who had to miss work because of domestic violence by her husband or boyfriend.

The victim also could use the paid sick days to skip work in order to testify in court against her attacker.

The groups said the proposal could also apply to abused men.

Proponents said many workers who would benefit from the bill were low-income women with food service, cleaning and nursing care jobs.

These women often force themselves to go to work even when they or their children are sick because they can't afford to miss a day's pay, advocates said.

However, employer groups said there could be "unintended consequences" from Mr. Gergely's bill, such as driving up costs for employers, which they said would be harmful with the economy already struggling.

With higher employee benefit costs, some companies might be forced to lay off workers, who would thus lose their paychecks -- a far worse option than not getting a few days of paid sick leave, critics said.

With the state's jobless rate at around 9 percent, "policymakers should consider policies that promote job growth rather than mandates that raise employment costs," said Michael Saltsman, of the Washington-based Employment Policies Institute.

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