Supporters of paid sick days for restaurant workers. Photo by Sarah Anne Hughes.

Supporters of paid sick leave for D.C. restaurant employees gathered near the National Portrait Gallery last night to collect signatures and engage passersby on the issue. They did so wearing ghoulish makeup, aprons and signs with messages like “Achoo! That might have been in your food. I don’t have paid sick days.”

The push from the Paid Sick Days for All Coalition is timed to coincide with Summer Restaurant Week, according to Naomi Iser of the D.C. Employment Justice Center. The idea to dress up as ill chefs was first tested last Halloween and is being trotted out at several locations in D.C. this week.

“It’s a lot easier to connect with people,” Iser said of the costumes. “There are so many canvassers in D.C.”

In addition to asking people to sign a petition supporting paid sick days, canvassers are handing out cards that ask, “Dear management: Do you support paid sick days?” People are asked to leave these on their tables when they dine out.

Iser said this issue affects everyone in D.C., as most people dine out. A study from the Restaurant Opportunities Center, she pointed out, found that over 60 percent of restaurant workers reported cooking and serving food while sick.

Sandy Kossangba of ROC said she’s experienced this first-hand. “I think that a lot of times the consumer is so consumed with the restaurant and how the ambiance is … [that they] never really care about the worker,” she said. “I think this is a good way to get consumers, even other restaurant workers engaged in knowing that this is something that we’re trying to do for them, and also for the consumers.

Photo by Sarah Anne Hughes.

In 2008, the D.C. Council approved a law that provides paid sick days to almost all D.C. workers. This does not include tipped restaurant employees, an exception that became an issue during the last At-Large Special Election.

The coalition has gathered 2,500 signatures thus far and hopes to have 4,000 by the end of the summer, Iser said. They will deliver the petitions to members of the D.C. Council this fall as the occupants of the Wilson Building consider amending the paid sick day law.

Photo by Sarah Anne Hughes.