I believe that all workers in the state of Maine deserve to care for themselves and their loved ones when they are sick.

All my life, I have worked low-wage jobs and food service jobs that did not offer paid or even unpaid sick days.

When I worked at a local restaurant, I was told that I would lose my pay or even my job if I didn’t come in for work. When I was sick once, I called in and the next day I learned I had been fired.

That is not right. People should be able to care for themselves when they get sick.

Where I work now doesn’t offer paid sick days either, or any kind of time off. Like so many workers in the state of Maine, I don’t have the choice to take care of myself when I need to.

Unfortunately, when a person works in a food service job and is sick, he risks spreading his illness to the costumers. That doesn’t make sense to me. I think that it isn’t good for me to work when I am sick and not good for the business owners. They should want to protect the health of their customers as much as I do.

I am excited and hopeful that there is a bill in the state Legislature this year that would provide five earned paid sick days for all Maine workers. I hope the Maine Legislature will do the right thing and pass that bill.

Kenny Derboghosian, Auburn