Sick people should be at home eating this,
not at work serving it.
In a low-turnout election (held a week before the typical election day), Denver voters rejected a paid sick leave bill by a huge margin—64.5 percent opposed, 35.4 percent in favor at last count. According to the Colorado Independent:
Early polls showed the sick leave measure winning, but Denver Mayor Michael Hancock and a majority of the Denver City Council urged no votes and opponents raised nearly twice the money supporters raised during a campaign that quickly became ugly.
Opponents of the measure raised $835,390 to proponents' $462,984. The opposition campaign was, of course, run on a "small business can't afford this" line. Regardless of the truth of that, it's a striking statement about our nation's economy and the place of workers in it that it's seen as reasonable to argue that forcing people to go to work while sick (and to serve and potentially infect customers) is an economic imperative, instead of being seen as a violation of basic rights.