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Eugene Could Become Third Northwest City To Require Paid Sick Leave

Eugene, Oregon, could become the third city in the Northwest to require paid sick leave for most workers.
tallasiandude
/
Flickr
Eugene, Oregon, could become the third city in the Northwest to require paid sick leave for most workers.

Oregon's second-largest city could be the next place to mandate employer-provided sick leave. The Eugene City Council Wednesday voted to direct city staff to draw up an ordinance that would take effect next year.

Eugene, Oregon, could become the third city in the Northwest to require paid sick leave for most workers.
Credit tallasiandude / Flickr
/
Flickr
Eugene, Oregon, could become the third city in the Northwest to require paid sick leave for most workers.

Seattle and Portland both have relatively new laws that require all but the smallest employers to offer paid time off when a worker gets sick. Supporters of the idea say it's a way to protect low-wage hourly workers who typically have weaker benefits packages than salaried employees. Backers of the ordinance in Eugene say it would mean 25,000 employees would no longer have to choose between coming to work sick or potentially losing their job.

On the other hand, Eugene City Council member Mike Clark said this could hurt a business’ bottom line.

"We don't have magic pixie dust that we can sprinkle on the economy to make it better," he said. "But we can sure as heck avoid hurting it.”

The Eugene City Council will hold a public hearing on the issue next month before taking a final vote.

Copyright 2014 Northwest News Network

Chris Lehman graduated from Temple University with a journalism degree in 1997. He landed his first job less than a month later, producing arts stories for Red River Public Radio in Shreveport, Louisiana. Three years later he headed north to DeKalb, Illinois, where he worked as a reporter and announcer for NPR–affiliate WNIJ–FM. In 2006 he headed west to become the Salem Correspondent for the Northwest News Network.