Florida’s governor wants you to go to work sick

[DainBramaged]

As attempts to dehumanize the workplace go, few could be more sadistic than forcing workers to come to work sick, but that’s precisely what the Florida legislature and Governor Rick Scott recently did.

This throwback to the Satanic mills era of industrial relations came in response to a successful petition by 50,000 voters in Orange County, Florida, to place on the ballot an initiative to guarantee a certain number of paid sick days to all workers in the county. The state bill nullifies the ballot measure by blocking local governments from enacting any standards on sick leave, voter preferences be damned.

Governor Scott and the state legislature did this at the behest of some of Florida’s largest employers, including Disney World, which might otherwise have suffered the inconvenience of employees being able to go to the doctor without losing their jobs. Ostensibly, legislators say it’s to maintain “uniform regulatory standards” throughout the state. But Florida legislators have never been particularly devoted to uniformity in other legal matters. This is, after all, a state that allows its counties to ban the sale of alcohol and come up with their own interpretations of the First Amendment by erecting gigantic monuments of the Ten Commandments outside of courthouses.

But when it comes to worker protections, Florida is a stickler for centralized authority, as long as that authority assures no such protections exist. The reason corporations are calling on the state to override local initiatives is precisely due to the popularity of such initiatives among voters, not just in Florida – where polls show 80% of residents support setting sick leave standards, consistent with national surveys, but also in several other states including Wisconsin, where Republican Governor Scott Walker threw out a sick leave law in Milwaukee that passed in a voter referendum by 69%. Prior to Walker’s nullification, Milwaukee was one of a growing number of cities – San Francisco, Seattle, Portland and Washington DC – and one state, Connecticut, which guarantee some number of earned sick days – typically one hour for every 30 or 40 hours worked. There is often a maximum amount set according to business size, which workers can take in case of personal or family illness without losing pay or their jobs.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/26/floridas-governor-wants-you-to-go-to-work-sick/

[onehandle]

1. Skeletor cares not for your petty problems.

[DirkGently]

2. The Orange County GOP chair texted the County Mayor

during the discussion at the County level, that Tallahassee (where the FL legislature is located) would deliver the "kill shot" to paid sick leave. Other Republican commissioners (the seats are supposedly non-partisan) were texting with Disney lobbyists and their law firms, at times when the petitioning citizens were standing right in front of them.

Disney, Darden, and Mears Transportation, with ALEC, then drafted the state legislation to pre-empt county control of such issues. Republicans passed it, and Scott, after pausing briefly to pretend he was actually thinking about it, signed the "kill shot" into law.

Testimony in favor of paid sick leave included a nursing home worker forced to continue working while *coughing up blood*.

[LisaLynne]

3. Kick. nt

[Ilsa]

4. People in his office need to come in sick,

Pass along communicable diseases to him, then go home.

[kentauros]

5. I was just thinking of that.

Imagine all the people in their House and Senate (other than the elected ones) doing the same...

[DirkGently]

7. That

... is an excellent idea.

[jehop61]

6. Disney and Universal

Were the prime backers of this law, A reason not to go rhere.