The benefits of requiring paid sick days for workers would offset the costs by improving public health and employee retention, supporters of state legislation that would require such time said this morning.

A House bill would make employers provide up to seven days of paid sick time per year so that workers can tend to illness without fear of losing income, Jonathan Cox reports.

Forty-two percent of workers in North Carolina, or 1.6 million people, lack such a benefit, according to numbers provided by the N.C. Justice Center, which advocates for the poor and is pushing for passage of the legislation.

"Everyone gets sick," said Rep. Alma Adams, a Guilford County Democrat and primary sponsor of the legislation. "Unfortunately, not everyone has a fair chance to get better."

Employers, though, say that imposing such a mandate would cause an onerous burden, especially during the grips of severe recession.

"Small businesses are struggling so much right now," said Gregg Thompson, state director for the National Federation of Independent Business. "That additional expense could be very damaging."

GREENSBORO — With North Carolina's Senate race closing up, business is beginning to use its clout to help Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

Dole accepted the endorsement Wednesday of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, which counts 7,200 businesses in the state. That comes just days after the U.S. Chamber of Commerce began an independent TV advertising effort on behalf of Dole, Rob Christensen reports.

Gregg Thompson, the state director of NFIB, said his organization would do multiple mailings to its members on behalf of Dole in her campaign against Democrat Kay Hagan.

Dole, a member of the Senate Small Business Committee, said she would continue to work to keep taxes low for small businesses, fight efforts to make it easier for unions to organize, and oppose both more regulation on small business and "frivolous" lawsuits brought against business.

"I stand for the same principles and values," said Dole, at a new conference at Advanced Direct, a direct mail firm located in a an industrial park.