There’s a battle brewing regarding mandated paid sick leave legislation – one that is shaping up to pit businesses against employees.
The legislation, which was sponsored by 38 Councilmembers and championed by the powerful Working Families Party, would make it mandatory that companies give employees up to nine paid sick days if they have 10 or more workers and five paid sick days at smaller companies. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is not one of the sponsors and Mayor Michael Bloomberg has stated publically he believes some sort of compromise might have to be reached.
Supporters and detractors on both sides of the bill have been very vocal including prior to a recent City Council hearing where a coalition of small business owners, chambers of commerce and trade associations recently gathered on the steps of City Hall to protest the bill.
Queens Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice President Jack Friedman said that the short- and long-term damages to Queens businesses could be $2 to $3 billion in new costs.
“Our business and non-profit communities are trying to weather current economic challenges, maintain current levels and look toward future growth through job creation, yet they are being asked to shoulder this latest burden,” Friedman said.
KY Chow, the owner of GM Printing in Long Island City, which has 32 full-time employees, said that if the bill mandated the company increase its paid sick days from the six that the company currently offers to nine, it would cost the business $30,000 per year.
“I will have to cut down on their vacation time to cover these costs,” Chow said.
However, others like Ramon Murphy, President of the Bodegas Association, said that paid sick days are important to employers and employees.
“We do not want workers coming to work sick because it poses a threat to other workers and to our customers . . .we support a bill that would level the playing field and ensure that all businesses [are] provided this benefit so that we do not feel at a disadvantage because we are doing the right thing for our workers and for the public health of the city,”
Meanwhile, City Councilmember James Gennaro, who was one of the 38 members who supported the bill, said that he does not support the bill in its current form, and he believes it should be scaled back.
“The hearing was a real eye-opener, and the bill as it’s currently drafted is a little too overreaching in my opinion,” Gennaro said.
Lois Christie, the CEO of Christie & Co. Salon • Spa in The Bay Terrace shopping center, said the change would have a tremendous negative impact on the bottom line of her business and many other service-oriented and small businesses. Christie, who already gives her employees five paid sick days, said that a change to nine days would cost her an estimated $400,000 a year.
“I’m in business 39 years, and I have never had an employee leave because they weren’t treated fairly,” Christie said. “I have never had to go to City Hall to defend that I’m a private entrepreneur.”
