Mandatory Paid Sick Leave: Will It Crush Small Businesses?

Business owners did their best yesterday to scare off Council members mulling a bill that would require all employers in the city to provide up to nine paid sick days. The owners insist such a law would force small businesses to slash salaries and benefits, lay off employees, and eventually flee the city. "Pile on another expense to us, you’re gonna put people out of business. You’re gonna encourage people to move their business out of New York City. I’m a mile from New Jersey. It’s a hop over the bridge. And it’s very tempting," said Tom Scarangello of Scaran Heating & Air Conditioning.

"I’m predicting that if this bill is passed in its current form, it’s going to result in the layoff of thousands of workers in New York City," declared Metro Optics Eyewear owner John Bonizio. It's unclear which way City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is leaning, and it's anyone's guess when she'll bring it to a vote. But Mayor Bloomberg told NY1, "Everybody would love to be able to have paid sick leave, and at the same time, it’s true that a lot of small businesses probably can’t afford it, and so we’ve got to find some ways of balancing those two things."

Advocates of the bill, who claim that half of the city’s workforce has no paid sick leave, weren't afraid to get alarmist either. "Think about going to breakfast in the morning, and ordering a bagel, and getting a side dish of H1N1, because the person who served it was not feeling well," warned Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. According to the Daily News, advocates on each side of the debate presented vastly different cost estimates: Kevin Miller of the Institute for Women's Policy Research said at least 850,000 workers would receive leave under the law, costing $332 million. But the business coalition claims it will soak them for $8.8 billion.

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By John Del Signore in News on November 18, 2009 9:40 AM

Comments [rss]

ma bell

i doubt that it will crush small businesses, but it will certainly crush the unemployment figures. small business will hire less and we can all expect a lower level of service. thanks politicians

TEnergizer

Mandatory Paid Sick Leave: Will It Crush Small Businesses?

Hell ya!

McFister

This kind of policy is already pretty standard with larger employers. I'm not sure why we make so many exceptions for small businesses.

jpeditor

Because they don't do the volume of business to absorb the loss.

Of course we could just have nothing but box stores and multinational conglomerates take over everything and every one can have their 9 sick days.

/s

JSA

This is a great idea. One will have holidays punctuated by working days!

nivek

We are the most overworked labor force in the world; we take an average of 9 days off a year. I'm sure the people who were fed up with this shit left for France years ago.

This is yet another problem that results in ridiculous health costs, we eat such shitty food and work such long hours that our immune systems break down, and then so we fight it with ridiculously expensive, harmful medication, and then go get tests on overpriced equipment. Go us!

robingee

A lot of companies look down on you if you work less than 10 hours a day. You take a lunch break and you get the stinkeye. And every company wants one person to do the job of 3 people so they can save money. No wonder everyone is sick.

nivek

These figures are from 2006:

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0922052.html

Great, so we have massive GDP and gains, or did at some point. But at what cost? Why the fuck should I care? What ever happened to just...living well?

jpeditor

F*ck you jew-hater.

wow 14th street

Let's go back to the turn of the last century where few

workers had any rights at all and kissed butt just to

keep a job,then let's hope somebody gets an idea called

"Unions" that say workers are just important as our

bosses and employers and we deserve some human rights

and a modicum share of the employers wealth

Odd that this comes up at all ,in the year 2009.

nyorker555

The flip side of this is that some places will find a way to fire you down the road if you take a sick day. No easy answer here.

ANGRYGOD11

Perhaps mandatory sick leave is in response to the scummy businesses that fired workers for calling in sick.

INTJ

My company actually is very generous in the allotment of sick days. But I don't see a lot of abuse going on---for the most part people come in, get their work done, and if a day's tasks are particularly crucial it's unheard of for someone to call in sick and leave the rest of the team hanging. People that do take a lot of days tend to be low performers overall and would find a way to underperform and overexploit resources regardless of where they work and what the company's policies are----and in many small businesses they would be much easier to hire than in large employers where they tend to be more careful about liability, policies, etc.

unsunghiro

i agree. i don't get paid sick days and it really sucks. if i had it i certainly wouldn't abuse it - because then what do you do when you really are sick? also for people with kids this would be a tremendous help. there are a lot of parents who send kids to school when they're sick just because they can't afford to miss work or pay a babysitter.

INTJ

Sorry, I meant underperformers would be easier to FIRE, not hire, in many small businesses.

JacqueMehoff

they could pass this law along with the other law I see posted in some places.

"new incentive program, work or get fired"

another law that won't matter to the working people. I hope everyone's immune system is up to snuff, it's going to be a cold winter according to the farmer's almanac.

Let's work on getting them health insurance first.

yamon

I currently work for a company where I do have health insurance but no sick days. Twice I've come in sick as a dog because I had no vacation left over - as have some of my co-workers which obviously leads to more people sick. I welcome this law as it addresses a pressing need but also feel 9 days is excessive

HBHB

Pass this and your employee will not come to work sick where they can possibly pass the germ onto other employees who will then have to take off. Healthy happy employees produce more and better results.

tom9d

Why do people feel entitled to receive money when they don't work? If a business is willing to offer paid sick days, that's great. But how is that in any way a right?

schadenfreudian mensch

Yea, I don't get it either. Why do people get unemployment benefits when they get laid off? They're not working so they shouldn't be getting any money. Once you start giving away this free money people will start to feel entitled. We should just follow India's model when you can't work just start begging on the streets and if you're really smart blind or maim some kid and have they beg for you! FTW!!