Interestingly, the bill exempts the YMCA and all manufacturers, but requires employers to determine on their own if their workers should be classified as "service workers," using more than 50 "broad or detailed occupation code numbers and titles as defined by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics Standard Occupational Classification system."

Three municipalities—San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and Milwaukee (after a long legal battle)—are currently the only governments with mandated sick leave laws, making Connecticut the first state to enact such a law.

When signed, the law will take effect on Jan. 1, 2012.

The case in question—Metro Milwaukee Association of Commerce v. City of Milwaukee—was decided on March 24, lifting a two-year moratorium issued by the initial court ruling.

Milwaukee thus joins the cities of San Francisco and Washington, D.C., as the only municipalities (or other government body) legislating paid sick leave in the United States.

The bill was introduced by State Senate President Elizabeth Mitchell, a Democrat who also happens to be running for governor.

Mitchell seems to be playing off the H1N1 influenza scare in proposing her legislation.

"Spreading a disease by going to work because you can’t afford to stay home is not good for the employer, it’s not good for the public, and it’s not good, of course, for the employee," she says.

Business, large, medium and small, is crying foul.

"An outsider, no matter how well intentioned he or she may be, does not have the means or adequate knowledge required to make a valid decision about a company’s day-to-day operations, nor are they in a position to decide what benefits a company must offer," Rod Wiles says. "Suggesting that businesses can and should absorb additional labor costs at this time is ill-advised and irresponsible."

Wiles, of course, is a lobbyist for the Retail Lumber Dealers Association of Maine.

The bill is currently being considered by the Labor Committee, which may compromise by extending an exemption to businesses below a certain size, determined by number of employees.

If the Maine bill passes, it will be the first state paid sick leave measure on the books.

Meanwhile, the “Agenda” section of WhiteHouse.gov says that “Barack Obama and Joe Biden will require that employers provide seven paid sick days per year.” That’s a pretty clear signal.

Change like this–the government’s mandating employers to provide paid sick leave–may take awhile to implement given the worrisome nature of the economy, but my guess is that it won’t be long before paid leave is the law of the land.

The thought may freak out some business owners, but a survey of world policy toward paid leave shows that the U.S. is way, way, way behind most nations of the world, even ones where one might attach the “third world” moniker.

Take the issue of maternity/paternity leave, the paid variety. Gabon offers 14 weeks of 100-percent-of-salary paid leave to the mother, with job protection. Mexico offers 12 weeks at 100 percent, Peru 90 days at full salary. China tenders 90 days at 100 percent, but Japan–the world’s second largest economy behind ours–offers 14 weeks but at just 60 percent of wages.

Take a trip across the pond to our neighbors in Europe, and you’ll find some really generous packages: All working parents in Sweden are entitled to 16 months paid leave per child, the cost being shared between employer and state. France has a sliding scale starting at 14 weeks and rising in length as the number of children in the family increases.

Five countries in the world do not offer some form of paid parental leave: Australia, the United States, Liberia, Swaziland, and Papua New Guinea. However, most employees in Australia are entitled to at least 12 months’ unpaid leave for the primary caregiver, and new parents are able to receive a Baby Bonus of A$5000.

At least no one in Washington is proposing Sweden-like benefits. Yet.

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.