Fox Business Panel Sickened By The Thought Of Universal Sick Leave
Reported by Ellen - May 4, 2010 -
Co-authored by Brian
On Saturday’s (5/1/10) Cashin’ In, the panel inveighed against a White House plan to mandate sick leave. Host Cheryl Casone reported at the beginning that this would be a way of lowering health care costs by “helping employees get healthy sooner and stay healthy longer.” She didn’t report to the “We report, you decide” network’s audience that, as Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis put it, “The stakes are even higher when the worker or a family member is coping with a contagious illness – like 2009 H1N1 - given that the consequences of an employee’s decision to go to work when ill or to send a sick child to school can adversely affect many others.” But most of the panelists didn’t just disagree with the measure, they suggested it was a way of coddling slackers and giving them a free vacation. With video.
Guest Jonathan Hoenig claimed such a provision would hurt the job market because it "raises costs" for businesses struggling to get by. He said it "infringes on people's rights.” He meant, of course, that it would infringe on corporations’ rights. “This notion that somehow an employee has a right to a day off advocated for them by the government? It's such a slap in the face to those of us who believe in capitalism," Hoenig continued. Of course, it could be quite a slap in the face of Hoenig if were to contract a serious illness because someone else couldn't afford to take a day off.
When Casone noted that only 25% of lower paid workers get sick pay, guest Jonas Max Ferris sneered, “That’s one of the downsides of being a lower-paid worker, which could (become) an incentive to be a higher-paid worker.” He went on to suggest that workers would use their sick days to go to Disneyland on a “paid vacation.”
Guest Rob Stein said, "We're talking about being sick… People get sick, particularly this year with H1N1, they should be able to take a day off, get healthy, and get paid for it."
And not contaminate their co-workers.
John Layfield scoffed, "Oh come on, wait a minute. What kind of sissy nanny state are we building right here? We're telling people, if you've got the sniffles, stay home. Whatever you do, don’t work. Would you like to be in a foxhole with these spineless politicians that are telling people not to work hard? …This is pathetic."
I don't know about Layfield but I'd prefer not to catch H1N1 from some ill messenger or clerk or cook who can’t afford to take a day off.
