Opponents Step Up Efforts To Fight Sick Pay Initiative

DENVER (CBS4) - Ballots go out next week as Denver voters decide whether every worker gets paid sick days and opponents are stepping up their efforts to fight the initiative.

Dozens of Denver restaurant owners rallied against the measure.

"We represent the shops and entertainment that revitalized downtown Denver," a business owner said at the rally.

They came from every corner of the city -- a who's who of Denver restaurant owners -- to oppose what they call a recipe for disaster, a ballot measure that would require every business in the city provide paid sick leave.

At Steve's Snappin Dogs they have 15 employees. If Initiative 300 passes they would get nine paid sick days each.

"As a small business with 15 people being treated like a business with 300 people," Steve's Snappin' Dogs owner Steve Ballas said.

More troubling though is what Ballas calls a lack of accountability.

"They can be out for up to three days without calling in sick and can walk off the job in the middle of the shift," Ballas said.

While it' unclear whether the worker would have to give notice under the measure, supporters argue most only take a couple days.

"It's a reasonable approach to make sure workers in Denver have access to paid sick days, that we can all stay healthy by allowing them to stay home when they're sick," Kevin Pape with Campaign for a Healthy Denver said.

Adam Schlegel owns five restaurants and two of them are in Denver. He argues the initiative creates an unfair playing field, putting Denver at a disadvantage. Supporters disagree, saying it has worked in cities like San Francisco.

If the initiative is successful in Denver, the next step will be a statewide push.

Denver's budget office released a study showing the initiative will cost the city $750,000. But supporters released their own study by the Bell Policy Center showing the measure would not harm local business or cost jobs.