A proposition in Massachusetts to mandate paid sick days for workers caring for family will please many workers, displease many business owners.

This stand-off is no surprise.

Worker-rights groups say mandatory paid leave should be part of a compassionate workplace and is a way to decrease costs by keeping sick workers home.

Businesses say it would raise costs, intrude on the autonomy to develop company-suitable compensation packages and is onerous at a time when the economy is sour.

"When you're heading into a recession, you don't increase the costs of businesses," said state Rep. John Lepper, R-Attleboro. That's a good point. However, the issue of paid sick days was smoldering before the downturn. Many states had already been assessing this matter that appears to have emerged out of discussion of an increase in the minimum wage.

We weigh in, in favor of paid sick leave. The worker who attends to a medical problem may be a worker who catches a minor illness before it becomes a costly crisis. More parents could stay home to care for ill children rather than shuffling them off, sneezing and sniffling, to childcare, with a ripple effect on other families.

Statistics do not support the idea that workers, as a whole, will abuse time off.

The average American company offers employees 8.1 paid sick days a year, according to a study by Mercer Human Resources Consulting and reported last year by CNN. The average worker, however, takes less than that - about 5.2 sick days per year, the 2006 study said.

"It will be more just," said Tim Sullivan, for AFLC-CIO Massachusetts, which supports the legislation. "This is a family value. You can't make workers choose between a paycheck and taking care of their family or themselves."

The bill filed by state Sen. Patricia Jehlen, D-Somerville, and by state Rep. Kay Khan, D-Newton, in January 2007 would require Massachusetts' public and private employers to provide seven paid sick days a year. The days could be used in case of illness, routine medical appointment and absences for domestic violence victims. They can also be taken to take care of a sick family member.

"There are certain basic human rights that everyone should have, like being able to get sick or care for your family," said Rep. Steven D'Amico, D-Seekonk.

We agree.