paid sick leave

By Steve Raabe
The Denver Post

The battle over paid sick leave in Denver escalated Monday with a think tank's endorsement and an opposition rally by restaurant owners.

The Bell Policy Center, a Denver-based liberal research group, said in a report that the Denver ballot initiative would be good for workers and public health, and would have only a minimal economic impact on employers.

KCNC-Channel 4

DENVER – Ballots go out next week as Denver voters decide whether every worker gets paid sick days and opponents are stepping up their efforts to fight the initiative.

Dozens of Denver restaurant owners rallied against the measure.

"We represent the shops and entertainment that revitalized downtown Denver," a business owner said at the rally.

Eli Stokols
Political Reporter, KDVR-Channel 31

DENVER – The most controversial ordinance on this year's municipal ballot, an initiative that would force most businesses to give employees nine days of annual paid sick leave, is dividing the city's restaurant industry, pitting most of the servers and cooks against the employers who sign their paychecks.

By Ed Sealover
Denver Business Journal

A study arguing that a paid sick leave ordinance on the Denver city ballot in November will not hurt businesses was released by a liberal think-tank on Monday, the same day a coalition of independent restaurants rallied in opposition to Initiative 300.

If Colorado were to implement a statewide paid-sick-leave law, it could cost the state 14,000 jobs and $1.93 billion in reduced economic output over four years, according to a study by the National Federation of Independent Businesses.

No such statewide proposal exists. However, a municipal paid-sick-leave ordinance will appear on the Denver ballot in November.

An NFIB official said the federation did not calculate projected impacts of the Denver ordinance but chose to estimate statewide impacts in the event that a paid-sick-leave law is proposed for Colorado.