A proposal for paid sick leave will be debated Tuesday at a Prince George’s County Council hearing that could offer a preview of the 2018 county executive’s race.
County Council chairman Mel Franklin (D-Upper Marlboro), who plans to run to succeed County Executive Rushern L. Baker III, says the Prince George’s bill would place the county at a competitive disadvantage compared to other jurisdictions in the state.
Two other likely Democratic contenders for the county’s top job, State’s Attorney Angela Alsobrooks and former delegate Jolene Ivey, are supporting the legislation, saying working men and women need to be able to take time off when they or their children are ill.
Both women are scheduled to testify during Tuesday’s hearing. The bill needs four votes to move out of committee and be considered by the full council this fall.
From the moment Council member Mary A. Lehman (D-Laurel) proposed the bill, paid sick leave has been hotly debated in Prince George’s, which lags behind its neighbors in wealth and business offerings and has made boostingeconomic development its the top priority.
Council members,all of whom are Democrats, have found themselves at odds over whether the needs of working families should trump the county’s business goals.
Lehman said her proposal was inspired by Obama’s State of the Union address, when he called for paid sick leave for all American workers — a proposal that had no chance of passing the Republican-controlled Congress.
“It had never occurred to me before that so many people did not have access to this basic benefit,” Lehman said. “It just makes sense that people who are sick or whose children or elderly parents are sick should get time off without being afraid of losing pay.”
A skeptical Franklin declined to place the bill on the council’s fall schedule until he came under pressure from progressive activists.
Two members of the planning, zoning and economic development committee, Karen R. Toles (D-Suitland) and Deni Taveras (D-Adelphi), are co-sponsors of the legislation. It is unclear where committee chair Andrea Harrison (D-Springdale), who championed raising the minimum wage in 2013, or vice- chair Dannielle Glaros (D-Riverdale Park) stand on the measure.
The final committee member Derrick L. Davis (D-Mitchellville) said the county should not pass its own sick leave bill but should wait for state action — a position supported by the county’s business community and by Franklin.
“A business located in Brandywine could see this [bill] and decide it’s not worth it and move their offices south over the border to Waldorf,” in Charles County, Franklin said in an interview.
He said the county should not feel pressure to follow neighboring Montgomery County and the District, because its economy is not nearly as robust.
“The conversation should happen in the state,” agreed David Harrington, president of the Prince George’s County Chamber of Commerce. “Doing this at the county level would disrupt existing labor agreements, hurt micro-businesses, cause administrative nightmares for large companies and put a dent on the business climate.”
But with Gov. Larry Hogan (R) focused on making Maryland more friendly to employers, state action on paid sick leave seems unlikely in the immediate future. And Alsobrooks and Ivey say the county doesn’t have time to wait.
“Working mothers need more of our help,” said Alsobrooks, noting that four children were killed or injured recently in Prince George's after their mother’s left them with a boyfriend or significant other rather than miss work to care for them.
She also said workers should be able to use earned sick leave to seek medical treatment if they are victims of domestic violence.
Ivey argued for the bill in a letter to the editor last week in The Washington Post, saying that more than 131,000 workers in Prince George's don't have sick leave. Those who make less than $35,000 a year are far less likely to have the benefit than those who make $65,000 a year or more, the letter said.
“Studies show businesses do fine and our citizens deserve it as a basic human right,” Ivey said in an interview. “If 145 countries, D.C. and Montgomery can manage paid sick leave, so can Prince George’s County.”
