Lawmakers are rejecting an effort to require businesses offer paid quarantine leave.
The fight for paid leave is on hold for now. After a Senate panel rejected paid sick days, Delegate Elizabeth Guzman pared her bill down to paid quarantine leave during the pandemic.
When that bill was considered by the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee, Republican Leader Tommy Norment said forcing businesses to offer employees leave for quarantine was a bad idea.
“This bill is insensitive in a lack of perspective to the fiscal stress that Virginia businesses are currently experiencing during this pandemic situation," he explained. "And we have no business placing additional stress on our businesses during this period of time.”
Democrats on the committee agreed with the Republican leader and killed the bill.
Kim Bobo at the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy says she disagrees with the idea that paid leave is bad for business.
“I’m disappointed that we didn’t get a quarantine bill because I believe workers and businesses and all of us need such a bill," says Bobo. "But I think there have been some scare tactics used and implied that this is not good for business, and I think they’re flat out wrong.”
She says she’ll be back next year, trying to persuade Senate Democrats that paid leave is good for workers and good for businesses.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
