Two bills that would have placed expensive, punitive, and burdensome mandates on Tennessee employers have been pulled this session.
Senate Bill 1094, as amended, would have created a paid sick leave mandates on all employers, regardless of size. NFIB/TN opposed the measure because one-size-fits-all policies do not work for small business owners, who need the freedom and flexibility to develop leave policies that work for their individual companies and their employees.
Additionally, studies from the Society for Human Resource Management and WorldatWork have shown that employers are increasingly doing what they can to meet the needs of their workforces with traditional leave and PTO (paid-time off) policies. In 2014, 54 percent of employers offered traditional leave plans with allocated vacation, sick, and personal time and 40 percent offered PTO plans. In 2013, 86 percent offered some form of paid leave to employees, and in 2014, it rose to 91 percent.
Senate Bill 1141 would have required all employers, no matter the size, to provide six weeks of paid leave to employees for adoption, pregnancy, childbirth, and nursing an infant. Employers would also have been required to provide pay for the remaining weeks of the four-month period allowed through the Family Medical Leave Act. Employees who had worked at least 12 months consecutively would have been eligible.
For small businesses, who operate on razor-thin margins, simply cannot afford this kind of mandate. There is a reason FMLA’s threshold for company size is higher—50 or more employees. NFIB/TN opposed this mandate as well because of the burden and lack of flexibility it would impose on small businesses.
While it’s good news that both bills have been pulled, they will be back next year, and NFIB/TN will continue to fight against them.
