(McClatchy-Tribune Information Services) -- Fears of a swine flu epidemic in May spurred public officials -- including President Barack Obama -- to urge people with symptoms to stay home from work.

But the advice aggravated an ongoing dilemma for 60 million U.S. workers, including some in New Hampshire, who struggled through flu season without paid sick leave.

Should they go to work and risk spreading the flu or stay home and miss a day's pay?

All the attention about the swine flu prompted Congress -- and numerous state Legislatures -- to take another look at creating a sick pay threshold, similar to the minimum wage.

Nationwide, 14 states, including Massachusetts, have pending legislation, according to Nikki Murphy, director of the New Hampshire Women's Lobby and Alliance.

New Hampshire lawmakers are studying a similar bill, sponsored by Rep. Mary Gile, D-Concord.

"Imagine if you're a mom and you're a waitress or part time in an office and feel you are getting flu-ish," she said. "And the media is talking about the possibility of a pandemic flu with H1N1. Your choices are go (to work) and risk infecting your colleagues or stay home, with no pay. That is no choice at all."

The bill was retained in the House Labor Committee for further study over the summer.

The main reason the bill was retained was so Granite State lawmakers could see how Congress would deal with the legislation on the federal level, she said. But Gile also thinks lawmakers must come up with incentives for New Hampshire's small franchise operators and hotels to persuade them that paid sick days will be a win-win situation.

A subcommittee will study the issues over the summer and then report back to the House Labor Committee by Nov. 1. The full House could vote on the bill Nov. 15, she said.

"We're expecting resistance," Gile said.

Although many small-business owners agreed the idea was good in principle, they also testified during Labor Committee hearings that paying for sick days would create a burden for them in this economic climate.

Opposition is also mounting on the national level. Last week, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut, reintroduced the Healthy Families Act in the Senate. Kennedy and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., are the main sponsors. The bill has failed to muster support before, but the legislation is supported by working women's groups and the Fairness Initiative on Low Wage Work.

If it passes this time, some business owners would have to provide an hour of sick time for every 30 hours an employee works.

The law would affect businesses with at least 15 employees, who are on the job at least 30 hours a week. Those employees would be allowed to earn up to seven paid sick days annually -- and they could earn more, if the business owners wanted to extend more generous benefits than the law required.

Loss of productivity due to absenteeism costs the U.S. economy $180 billion annually, according to a statement from Kennedy aide Kaelan Richards.

Paid sick days would be pro-rated for part-time employees. And people could use them to care for a sick child and for other health and safety purposes.

In New Hampshire, some 26 percent of employees go without pay if they call in sick. But a disproportionate number of them work in just the settings where people with a cold should be staying home, Murphy said.

Typically, they're working in restaurants and in child care, she said.

"I don't know about you," Gile said, "but it sort of makes me feel very uneasy to think people who prepare food in a restaurant are sniffling and with a runny nose."

Statistics show businesses stand to profit by providing paid sick days, Murphy said, because sick people stay home and avoid spreading disease throughout the workplace. That reduces absenteeism, but it also takes a bite out of health insurance costs because when people see a doctor early on, they avoid complications.

New Hampshire businesses are starting to embrace the idea, Murphy believes.

"It's a public health issue," she said. "It clearly prevents spread of illnesses, and it's actually good for business."

Yet, paid sick days still may not be an easy sell in the Granite State.

Anetta Neilsen, an economist with the state Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau, anticipates small-business owners will oppose mandatory sick pay.

According to the bureau's most recent benefits survey, almost 50 percent of New Hampshire companies offer some paid sick time, but the amount of time varies. The bigger companies typically offer better benefits, including more paid sick days.

But even some large companies do not provide paid sick days for part-time workers. And when part-time employees are included in the tally, the real percentage of companies with paid sick days drops to about 33.3 percent statewide.

The survey crunched the numbers by pay levels, industry sectors and geography. The people least likely to have paid sick days are working in restaurants and hotels. Only 20 percent had paid sick days.

One reason might be the employers in food and lodging hire seasonal or temporary employees, she said.

"They're not likely to cover people if they only have them two or three months," she said.

Construction workers fared a little better, with about 30 percent able to claim pay for sick days. Fifty percent of retail workers had paid sick days, but if they were part time, the picture changed dramatically, with only 11 percent covered for sick days.

And some people working for the big retail outlets told the survey they had paid sick days, but could be fired for taking them, she said.

On the other hand, 20 percent of New Hampshire employees had two ways to claim benefits -- either as paid sick days or as consolidated leave. The leave could be collected for personal days and vacation

In New Hampshire, part-time employees are the biggest group of workers lacking paid sick days, according to a recent study by Dr. Kristin Smith, a researcher with the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire. Smith found no paid sick days for 65 percent of part-time employees in the Granite State and 16 percent of full-time workers.

Copyright (C) 2009, The Eagle-Tribune, North Andover, Mass.