Senate Could Override If Wolf Vetoes Bill Killing Paid Sick Leave
By Kim Glovas
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- Pennsylvania's Republican controlled State Senate passed a bill last week that would not allow paid sick days, but Pennsylvania's Democratic Governor has vowed to veto the bill.
The state measure also flies in the face of a recent law passed in Philadelphia requiring employers with ten or more workers to offer that benefit.
The state bill was passed with bipartisan support and would not allow paid sick leave, which is exactly the opposite of a Philadelphia law going into effect in days.
Drexel University Associate law Professor David Cohen says Governor Tom Wolf has promised to veto the bill if it gets to his desk. But Senate Republicans could take one more step.
"They could override it. I don't know the exact numbers but they would need some support and I don't know if the Democrats would want to cross their newly elected governor that way so early in his tenure."
Cohen says other nations around the world are way ahead of us on labor issues like paid sick leave.
"There's been movements to try to improve conditions of workers for a long time, and unfortunately the United States has lagged behind most other industrialized countries in a very serious way," he says. "In this country, these are baby steps in the right direction that should have been taken a long time ago."
Cohen says paid sick leave is the next step which should follow the Family Medical Leave Act.
Just three states in the nation have paid sick leave: California. Connecticut and Massachusetts. A federal bill providing paid sick leave has been introduced for the past ten years, but has never been passed into law.