- Text
Katie Couric's Notebook: Sick Waiters
Picture this: You've just ordered dinner at your favorite Italian restaurant, but as your waiter approaches, you notice he has a red nose and a crumpled tissue in his hand.
Then he sneezes all over your fettuccine.
Nearly two-thirds of restaurant employees have cooked or served food while ill, according to a recent survey by the Restaurant Opportunities Center United, a workers group. That's probably because 90 percent of them don't get paid sick days, explains the study... and with a median wage under nine dollars per hour, many can't afford to skip work.
The group is pushing for federal legislation that would mandate any business with 15 or more employees to let workers earn at least one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked. That sounds fair... and long overdue.
Sick workers should stay home -- for our sake as much as theirs. Fettuccine tastes a whole lot better without an extra sprinkling of germs.
That's a page from my notebook.
I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.
- Couple's steamy romance e-books save their home
- Colo. senator who pushed for gun control may lose job
- Couple reeling from recession rewrites story, publishes romance novels
- SCOTUS: States can't require voters to prove citizenship; Couple reeling from recession publishes novels
- 6/18: Officials say NSA stopped over 50 potential terror attacks; Hi-tech giant creates next generation of Edisons
- Innovative Ariz. class turns students' dreams into reality
- David Coleman Headley: Terror sleeper agent foiled by NSA
- Iran's new president-elect seen as bridge-builder
- Parents of mentally ill child may have averted mass shooting
- Ghost army: How a group of artists helped win WWII
- Two teens stranded 8,000 feet up on cliff rescued by chopper
- Officials say NSA programs stopped over 50 potential terror attacks
- Colo. Black Forest fire has died down, yet danger remains
- Okla. tornado survivor finds dog buried alive under rubble
- Syria tensions make for chilly meeting between Obama, Putin
- SCOTUS: States can't require voters to prove citizenship
