Mandatory Sick Leave Spreading to Washington, D.C.Mandatory Sick Leave Spreading to Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., could soon become the second U.S. city to require businesses to provide paid sick leave to all employees. The city council will vote February 5 on whether Washington should join San Francisco in leading the national push for universal sick leave.In the past year, similar legislation has been proposed in ten states as well as the city of Milwaukee, according to the National Partnership for Women and Families. Also moving forward in Congress the Healthy Families Act, sponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), which would mandate paid sick leave in every business with more than 15 employees.

Lined up against the D.C. measure, which makes no exception for small businesses, is the local Chamber of Commerce, whose members see the measure as an unfunded mandate that will reduce their profits and ability to flexibly manage staffing. The worker advocates who support the bill cite not just the worker-rights issues but also the business benefits of greater worker retention and the reduction in the number of work hours lost when an employee who can't afford to stay home goes to work sick and infects others.

Since last June, San Francisco has required all employers to provide at least some paid sick leave. "Some employers initially were very alarmed," says Donna Levitt, head of the city's Office of Labor Standards Enforcement, but since then implementation has been "quite smooth." Small businesses nationwide should probably start to figure out how they will meet such a requirement should it be imposed in their communities.Fortune Small Business via CNNMoney.com