The coronavirus pandemic motivated Colorado Democrats to pass a bill to allow sick workers to stay home for about six workdays without losing wages, and on Tuesday morning Gov. Jared Polis signed that bill into law.
“We want sick people to stay home — to be able to stay home,” Polis said, just before signing SB-205 in a small ceremony at Denver’s History Colorado Center.
Said state Rep. Yadira Caraveo, D-Thornton, a sponsor of SB-205 and a working physician, “So often when a kid comes to the clinic and is sick with a cold or the flu or, yes, even coronavirus, we say go home, drink plenty of fluids, take some Tylenol, and don’t go anywhere. … And for so many parents I’ve talked to in the 10 years I’ve been a doctor, that’s not a choice.”
Colorado Democrats have been trying for six years to create a statewide paid family and medical leave program, arguing at various points for a universal benefit of 12 or more weeks of paid time off for someone tending to a personal emergency, or helping a family member through one. The bill signed into law Tuesday is significantly less ambitious.
Read the rest from our partners at The Denver Post.
