Several picketers’ signs targeted Patrick Mara’s opposition to paid sick leave for restaurant workers. (Photo courtesy Julie Kurant)

A small group of demonstrators demanding D.C. employers offer paid sick leave to restaurant workers marched outside the Black Cat yesterday evening before the storied rock venue hosted the latest debate ahead of the April 23 D.C. Council special election. Most of the picketers were organized by Jews United for Justice, a nonprofit group that focuses on social welfare in D.C.

The question of whether all employees should receive paid sick leave has become a bit of an issue in the race for an At-Large Council seat. Paid sick leave became a guarantee in 2008, when then-Councilmember Carol Schwartz (R-At Large) ushered a bill through the Council. But the bill’s passage prompted Schwartz’s fellow Republican, Patrick Mara to launch a successful primary challenge. (He went on to lose the general election to Michael A. Brown.)

Mara is now one of the leading candidates in the April 23 race and in recent weeks, his opponents have made an issue of his opposition to the sick leave bill. That was on display last night outside the Black Cat. “We want all of the candidates to support this,” said Monica Kamen, a Jews United for Justice organizer who assembled the rally. Kamen added though, that her group is not officially supporting a candidate in next week’s election.

Among the picketers was Diane Wilkes, who was fired last December from her job at a mental health clinic after taking three days off following a pneumonia diagnosis. “I told my boss,” Wilkes, 58, said. She said she was called in to work after the three-day period and fired on the spot, with her supervisor alleging that she failed to notify her workplace of her absence. Wilkes said she could not overturn the termination, but she was able to get the wages she was owed for her sick days.

Many restaurant workers want the sick leave bill extended to them, which Mara, a former part-owner of the Columbia Heights bar Meridian Pint, opposes. His five opponents support such a move. But while the issue has been played up in previous candidate forums, it was brought up only once at the end of last night’s Washington City Paper-sponsored debate.

Matthew Frumin, Elissa Silverman, and Paul Zukerberg, who are running as Democrats; and Perry Redd, the Statehood Green candidate, reiterated their support for extending paid sick leave to restaurant workers. The sixth candidate, Councilmember Anita Bonds (D-At Large), was absent.

Mara stated his opposition again. A sick day for a waiter or busboy, he said, “doesn’t add to much,” considering restaurant servers make most of their money from tips, with hourly wages being several dollars below the minimum wage for workers in other industries.

“Tip your bartender,” Zukerberg added.