HARRISBURG — During his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama called on Congress and state legislatures to enact mandatory paid sick days for American workers. But it seems unlikely the proposal will gain much traction in the Republican-controlled state Legislature in Harrisburg.

“Should government be telling private businesses how to manage themselves?” said Steve Miskin, a spokesman for the House Republican caucus, which holds a 119-84 majority in the chamber. The issue is better addressed by doing more to grow businesses and grow the number of family-sustaining jobs, he said.

“The better idea is — how do we keep people moving to better jobs. That’s really the way to help people,” Mr. Miskin said.

When a bill on the issue came up last year, “members had some concerns,” said Jennifer Kocher, a spokeswoman for Senate Republicans.

The president cited guaranteed paid sick leave in his address as an example of “middle-class economics,” along with benefits such as paid maternity leave and affordable, quality child care, as key to helping families feel more secure economically.

“Today, we are the only advanced country on Earth that doesn't guarantee paid sick leave or paid maternity leave to our workers,” he said in his address. “Forty-three million workers have no paid sick leave — 43 million. Think about that. And that forces too many parents to make the gut-wrenching choice between a paycheck and a sick kid at home.”

The president said he hoped states would adopt sick leave policies on their own, and he called on Congress to send him a bill guaranteeing workers the opportunity to earn seven days of paid sick leave.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat who took office Jan. 20, has expressed support for the general principle of making sure workers have paid sick time, saying it is important to help economic growth, though his office hasn’t committed to supporting a specific legislative proposal.

Such policies have been enacted at the local level in more than a dozen cities, including San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C., and in states such as Connecticut and California and Massachusetts, where laws will be enacted later this year, according to the National Partnership for Women & Families, an advocacy group.

Generally, the laws require employees to earn an hour of paid sick time for a certain number of hours worked, said Vicki Shabo, vice president at the National Partnership for Women & Families.

Observers say Philadelphia is likely to be one more city that will enact such a law this year; a paid sick days proposal has been passed twice by Philadelphia City Council and twice vetoed by Mayor Michael Nutter.  

Jason McCarthey, who lives in Philadelphia and has been involved with the coalition supporting sick leave there, has had a number of restaurant industry jobs and said he has no paid sick days in his current position as a bar back, a bartender’s assistant.

Mr. McCarthey said he would like to be able to have just a few paid sick days a year, for himself and his co-workers, but sees the issue as benefiting others as well.

"It would be nice if you didn't have to worry that the people in the restaurant preparing your food didn't have to worry about having to come to work sick," he said.

In Pennsylvania, the idea is opposed by a number of business-related lobbying groups, which additionally support legislation to block local municipalities — primarily aimed at Philadelphia — from enacting mandatory paid sick days legislation.

Pushing that pre-emptive legislation is a priority in the upcoming legislative session, said Melissa Bova, a lobbyist for the Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association, who said local mandates would be challenging for businesses with multiple locations and aren’t the proper way to address the issue.

“We'll have this [sick leave] conversation if they want to have it. But they need to stop the local issues before we will have this conversation,” Ms. Bova said.

Kate Giammarise: 717-787-4254 or kgiammarise@post-gazette.com or on Twitter @KateGiammarise.

First Published: February 5, 2015, 5:00 a.m.