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Committee To Hear Bill To Require Paid Employee Sick Leave

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A legislative panel is set to consider a measure to require South Dakota businesses to offer employees paid sick leave.

The Senate Commerce and Energy Committee on Thursday is expected to review the proposal.

It would allow employees to accrue an hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours they work once they’ve been at the company for three months.

Sen. Angie Buhl O’Donnell, a Democrat from Sioux Falls, says paid sick leave is an important public health issue. She says allowing employees to stay home if they are sick is especially important in the face of this year’s flu and measles outbreaks.

She says South Dakotans don’t want to eat at a restaurant and be confronted with the possibility that a server is at work with the flu.