On Paid Leave, Colorado Should Remain With The 49

Date: March 06, 2015

DENVER, Colo., March 6, 2015—The representative association for Colorado’s small-business owners came out forcefully today against a so-called family medical leave bill, saying it is fooling no one in making it a deal just between employees and the state.
“We don’t for a minute believe that employers will escape having to help fund House Bill 1258 at some point, so packaging it as an employee-funded, state-administered program is not fooling anyone,” said Tony Gagliardi, Colorado state director for the National Federation of Independent Business. “Additionally, where are low-wage employees going to get the money to contribute to this fund?
“We had hoped Colorado might be spared this vogue issue some other state legislatures are contending with, but bad ideas wrapped in good intentions are too much to resist for some legislators,” said Tony Gagliardi, Colorado state director for the National Federation of Independent Business. “It’s not a wonder how Colorado existed this long as a state without a paid-leave law, because leave time for personal and family business has always been accommodated and worked out between employer and employee without a one-size-fits-all law. ”
Gagliardi also noted that Connecticut is the only state in the nation with a paid leave law of any kind. “I suggest to legislators thinking of supporting HB 1258 that they ask themselves why 49 other states have decided it best to take a pass on such a proposal.”
Called either ‘family,’ ‘medical’ or ‘sick’ leave in various parts of the country, they all have the same effect. “Following passage of San Francisco’s paid leave mandate … a survey of employees in the city by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research found that nearly 30 percent of the lowest-wage employees reported layoffs or reduced hours at their workplace,” noted the Employment Policies Institute. “A separate survey by the Urban Institute found that some city employers had scaled back on employee bonuses, vacation time, and part-time help to adapt to the law’s cost.”
The EPI’s policy brief on paid sick leave looked at Seattle, too, and reported that “While some [businesses] raised prices on customers, others sought to increase the cost of (or scale back on the generosity of) employee benefits. Still other employers had reduced employee hours and even jobs.”
Like its equally Teflon-coated-against-criticism sister, the minimum wage (increases of which do nothing for the middle class and everything to decimate teen jobs), family, sick, or medical paid sick leave punishes the lowest-income workers and kills employment opportunities for those most in need of them. 
###
For more than 70 years, the National Federation of Independent Business has been the Voice of Small Business, taking the message from Main Street to the halls of Congress and all 50 state legislatures. NFIB annually surveys its members on state and federal issues vital to their survival as America’s economic engine and biggest creator of jobs. NFIB’s educational mission is to remind policymakers that small businesses are not smaller versions of bigger businesses; they have very different challenges and priorities.
National Federation of Independent Business/Colorado
1580 Logan St. Suite 520
Denver, CO 80203
303-831-6099
Twitter: @NFIB_CO 

Related Content: Small Business News | Colorado

Subscribe For Free News And Tips

Enter your email to get FREE small business insights. Learn more

Get to know NFIB

NFIB is a member-driven organization advocating on behalf of small and independent businesses nationwide.

Learn More

Or call us today
1-800-634-2669

© 2001 - 2024 National Federation of Independent Business. All Rights Reserved. Terms and Conditions | Privacy