To the Editor:

Two recent events demonstrate that in addition to doing what’s right for all our workers, there are very pragmatic reasons for the Town to adopt an ordinance requiring that all Princeton employers grant earned sick days to their workers.

Over Thanksgiving 40-50 diners at a local restaurant came down with a gastrointestinal illness, most likely norovirus. While it is impossible to definitively state the common cause of their illness, it is well known that most norovirus outbreaks are spread by infected food handlers. Flu is often spread the same way.

Meanwhile, when the School District outsourced food service to Nutri-Serve Food Management, it did not require the latter to retain the benefits that our school food service workers had enjoyed for many years — including earned sick days. This means that food handlers who are serving our kids are expected to go to work sick or not get paid. On December 11 they went on strike to protest these cuts in benefits.

Most food service employees, especially those who work in kitchens, earn little more than the minimum wage. Let’s assume $9 per hour x 2080 hours per year (if full time with paid vacation and holidays) = $18,720. That’s not even a living wage. If you get sick and do not receive earned sick days you are sorely tempted to come to work anyway so as not to lose any pay. Add to that the fear that if you are out for say a week, your job might not be waiting for you when you return.

Eight municipalities in New Jersey already have earned sick day ordinances. Some are large like Newark and Jersey City, while others are smaller like Irvington and Montclair. New York City just expanded the types and numbers of workers covered by its ordinance.

Let’s do what’s right for our workers, especially those earning very low wages, as well as help stop the spread of infectious diseases by passing an earned sick days ordinance.

John Heilner

Library Place