In Milwaukee, 69% of voters cast their ballots in favor of a requirement for employers to provide their workers with paid sick leave. Milwaukee becomes the third city â after San Francisco and Washington, DC â to adopt a requirement for paid sick days. Georgia Pabst of the Journal Sentinel explains:
Under the measure, a full-time worker would earn a minimum of one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked, or nine days a year. Businesses with 10 or fewer employees would be required to provide five days a year of paid sick time to full-time employees.
The paid leave could be taken for illness or medical care for the employee or the employee's child, parent or other relative. The time could also be used to attend to medical and legal issues resulting from domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking.
In other news:
International Herald Tribune: A crane accident during bridge construction in Chinaâs Sichuan province killed 11 people and left 12 others seriously injured (hat tip to OSHA Underground).
Associated Press: The AP checked records for uniform supplier Cintas and found that in the year and a half since employee Eleazar Torres-Gomez was killed in dryer, OSHA and state authorities have cited at least eight Cintas plants for violations like those that resulted in Torres-Gomezâs death.
Winnipeg Sun: A man who worked as a foundry crane operator was diagnosed with severe lead poisoning linked to his work â but years later, Manitobaâs Workers Compensation Board has stopped paying to treat one of the conditions he says heâs likely to suffer for the rest of his life.
New York Times: The U.S. Army is one of the organizations working in Thailand to find a vaccine for dengue fever â which could benefit millions of residents of tropical countries, as well as troops stationed in those areas.
NIOSH: The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has initiated several programs aimed at identifying and eliminating safety and health hazards experienced by immigrant workers.