Testing ground for liberal policies will strangle long-term economic recovery.
Jersey City Considers 30-Hour Minimum Workweek
Jersey City, ranked in 2015 as the second worst
place in the nation to start a business, has decided to dig in on their
anti-business environment and propose another job-killing mandate: a 30-hour
minimum workweek for certain employees. This proposal will be the final piece
in a trifecta of bad-for-business policies, following paid sick leave and a $15
per hour minimum wage for city employees.
Under the measure pushed by labor union 32BJ,
private employers would be required to provide at least a 30-hour workweek to
janitors, security guards, maids, doormen, and other building service workers.
The mandate would apply to employers in commercial buildings larger than
100,000 square feet, as well as to residential buildings with more than 50
units. In addition to skyrocketing wages, mandating 30 hours per week will also
force businesses to provide healthcare and retirement plans, whether or not
they can afford to do so.
What city officials fail to recognize in passing
meddlesome mandates like this one is that small business owners already do
everything in their power to keep employees content because they know their
workforce is their most valuable asset and that training new workers is
incredibly disruptive.
Laurie Ehlbeck, NFIB’s New Jersey state
director, spoke out about the devastating impact this proposal would have in an
op-ed published by SaveJersey.com.
“By imposing this foolish policy, it will simply
drive employers, including contractors, out of business, leaving all of their
employees with zero hours a week to work, never mind 30,” she wrote. “These
bad-for-business policies that are incubating in Jersey City will act as a
cancer and infiltrate the rest of the state if voters do not wake up now and
realize what is slowly creeping in around them. They will no doubt leave a wake
of unemployment and economic destruction behind them as they spread.”
To read Ehlbeck’s full op-ed, visit http://savejersey.com/2016/05/anti-business-policies-new-jersey-economy/.
