Paid Sick Leave: The Next Mandate?

President-elect Obama campaigned on a pledge to mandate paid sick leave at all places of work. Here's how the president-elect's Web site (Change.Gov) explained this:

Half of all private sector workers have no paid sick days and the problem is worse for employees in low-paying jobs, where less than a quarter receive any paid sick days. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will require that employers provide seven paid sick days per year.

I believe sick leave is an essential component of the workplace, but I can also see how a small business might suffer if it had to add additional expenses, such as hiring a temp when someone calls in sick. Either way, there's an interesting pro-and-con (and neutral) debate over at Business Week.