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Manhattan's Small Businesses Worry About City's Paid Sick Leave Bill, as Workers Wait

By Serena Solomon | November 13, 2009 8:06am | Updated on November 13, 2009 3:31pm

By Serena Solomon

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

CHELSEA — Adela Valdez came down with a fever last July while at her job in a florescent light factory on Canal Street. Someone gave her an aspirin so she could continue working, but the tablet spiked the fever. Valdez ended up in the hospital.

A few days later, she went back to work and found out she had lost her job.

"I went back to work and they said, 'There is not more work for you here,'" said Valdez, 39, even though she had worked at the factory for three years. She earned $400 a week for working 11 hours a day, seven days a week, using $250 to feed her four children.

"This hurts a lot because this is how I was feeding my kids back in Mexico," she said. "I live humbly, I work very hard and I do everything for my children."

Roy Savelli in his bar, Flight 151.
Roy Savelli in his bar, Flight 151.
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The experiences of Valdez and more than 1 million other New Yorkers like her who don't have paid sick leave have inspired a bill that would make it mandatory in New York City. The City Council is scheduled to hold a hearing on the bill next Tuesday.

But the proposed law is meeting resistance from Manhattan's small business owners, who feel the requirement will hurt their bottom line, particularly in this economy.

Tony Juliano, chairman of the Greenwich Village and Chelsea Chamber of Commerce, said many small business owners are worried about increased costs at a time when the effects of the recession still linger.  

"They are hanging on by their fingernails, and this will push some of them over the edge," Juliano said.

Full-time and part-time employees who have worked 90 full days with a company would qualify for paid sick leave under the bill. They can accumulate one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked, with unused time expiring at the end of the year. The bill allows employees to use their time for their own illnesses or to take care of a sick relative.

"The biggest supporter of this bill is parents," said Councilwoman Gale Brewer, who is pushing the bill.

The swine flu outbreak in the city last spring sealed her support for the bill, she said. When students fell sick, Brewer said many working parents had difficulty taking time off to care for them, or to pay for child care.

Roy Savelli, who has owned the Flight 151 bar in Chelsea for 18 years, can see how mandatory paid sick leave is fair, but he predicts it will push some businesses into bankruptcy.

"We are so over-legislated to begin with — fat laws, calories on menus, smoking laws," Savelli said. "I think it will crush small businesses. If you look up Eighth Avenue, you see tons of empty stores."

But Brewer argues that a healthy workforce would be more productive.

Albert Cruz in his fashion store on Seventh Avenue in Chelsea.
Albert Cruz in his fashion store on Seventh Avenue in Chelsea.
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Serena Solomon/DNAinfo

"San Francisco has had this legislation for two years," she said. "We have not heard about any problems."

San Francisco business representatives are scheduled to testify at Tuesday's hearing.

The bill does offer some breathing room for businesses. A business with less then 10 employees, for example, would only need to supply each one with five days of paid sick leave every year. If there are more then 10 employees, nine days would be required.

"I agree with the premise of the bill, but 10 employees is not fair," said Albert Cruz, who has owned fashion store Sacco, on Seventh Avenue, for 33 years. He said his business with 20 employees should not be lumped into one with 200.

Cruz said his company already offers some sick leave to employees, but under the new bill he would need to offer more, at a time when he has to shutter three of his six stores.

"I would have to replace vacation days with sick days,” he said. “So the employees lose out instead of gaining anything."

Roy Savelli in his bar, Flight 151.
Roy Savelli in his bar, Flight 151.
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