September marks not only the beginning of a new season of autumn but it also means back to school for many students. Along those lines, NFIB knows that lifelong learning for small business owners and their employees is critical to sustaining business success. Industry specific conferences and seminars can help you stay on top of the issues that matter most to your customers, but it can be difficult to find resources that will help your business function smoothly when it comes to the day to day operations — the real pain point for many small business owners.
In talking with many of our members in the state, NFIB/NY has identified a number of common topics that would help all small business owners. We launched a learning series last month beginning with our first hour-long webinar, “Don’t Panic: What you Need to Know about a Department of Labor Audit.”
NFIB also has other archived webinars available at (https://www.nfib.com/webinars/) on various issues including HR, marketing, legal help, healthcare and federal regulations.
Discussion and explanation of state labor laws and regulations was the obvious choice for a kick off webinar since regulations are among the top concerns of New York’s small business owners. With over 750,000 regulations on the books, with a compliance cost estimated at $250 million, there’s no doubt that red tape is bad for business in New York State. Add federal regulations to the heavy state burden, and bottom-lines of businesses are severely impacted. In fact, NFIB’s Legal Center Executive Director Karen Harned recently gave testimony before Congress (https://www.nfib.com/article/nfib-legal-counsel-to-congress-who-is-minding-the-regulatory-store-70163…) and stated that regulatory costs of compliance for small business are nearly $12,000 per employee per year, which is 30 percent higher than the cost that larger businesses face.
Regulatory reform is always a key component of NFIB/NY’s action agenda, and we know that there is no shortage of regulations that need review. If you have suggestions about which burdensome, redundant or costly regulations need to be repealed or reformed, please reach out to our office.
