By Jennifer Glickel
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
CITY HALL — A group of Latino immigrants gathered on the steps of City Hall on Wednesday to make the case for the passage of paid sick days legislation.
Make the Road New York, the grassroots group that organized the rally, called on the City Council to pass the paid sick time bill as members arrived for a council meeting Wedensday afternoon. The group largely works on behalf of low-income Latino immigrants, both legal and illegal.
The group waved flyers shaped like oversized hand sanitizer bottles with information about the legislation on the back.
Gabino Hernández, a Mexican immigrant who was assaulted by five men and robbed while on the job as a restaurant delivery man, spoke about the consequences he had to deal with after his boss told him to take a week off to recover.
"When I showed up a week later ready to work, my boss told me I no longer had a job," Hernández recounted. "I was severely injured while working and not only did I not get paid for the time I spent in the hospital or at home recovering, but I lost my job of the time I missed."
Some council members are concerned the requirements of the legislation would hurt small businesses struggling to make ends meet.
Manhattan Councilwoman Gale Brewer, who is the chief sponsor of the Earned Paid Sick Time bill, says that the legislation would be carried out with compromise in mind.
"We want to do this with sensitivity to the business community, but it's important that we pass a bill that ensures the universality of paid sick days for everyone," Brewer said on the steps of City Hall.
