St. Paul To Form Task Force Focused On Sick Time

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – As the city of Minneapolis tries to come up with sick-leave rules, the city of St. Paul has announced that it is forming a task force on the issue.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and the city council are planning to extend earned sick time to all city government employees by Jan. 1, 2017 if they are not already getting sick time. This would include people who have temporary or seasonal jobs.

Currently, all full and part time regular city government employees do get the sick time benefit. But there are 1,018 temporary city government employees and about 700 Right Track interns who do not get paid sick leave.

The city also wants to hear from the public about creating a citywide sick-leave policy for everyone who works in St. Paul. A task force is being created to come up with recommendations for the St. Paul City Council.

Coleman talked about the sick time issue Tuesday at a breakfast event with Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges.

The idea of requiring businesses to provide sick time to all of its employees has been controversial in Minneapolis.

Last year, when Hodges proposed requiring businesses to provide sick leave many businesses felt left out of the conversation.

"Mayor Betsy Hodges said she plans to continue to meet with groups on both sides of the paid sick time debate," the Pioneer Press reported.

"Many Saint Paul families are headed by either single parents who work, or two parents who both work full or part time. Not only will this policy change promote good public health by enabling sick people to stay home and avoid spreading illnesses, but it will better reflect the realities and needs of our families here in Saint Paul," Coleman said in a recent statement.

There will be a series of public meetings to get input from community members.

More details about the new task force will be released Thursday.