24-Week, $1 Billion Paid Leave Mandate Moving At Minnesota Capitol

February 15, 2023

24-Week, $1 Billion Paid Leave Mandate Moving At Minnesota Capitol

The 24-week, $1 Billion Paid Family and Medical Leave proposal is still on the move at the Minnesota Capitol. So far, it’s passed through about two thirds of committee stops in the state House and Senate. The mandate includes setting up a huge new state bureaucracy with as many as 400 new government workers and a new payroll tax that could go up and up every year. Every employee could use up to 24 weeks of paid leave per year, no exceptions. NFIB is fighting in legislative committees, in meetings with legislators, and in the media to protect your right to own and operate your business without the added cost and disruption of this expensive and impractical mandate. Minnesota lawmakers are starting to feel pressure from businesses in their communities too. If you haven’t already, add your voice to the debate! Send a message directly to your lawmakers here: TAKE ACTION – STOP THE 24-Week, $1 Billion PFML Bill Learn more about the proposal and NFIB’s media campaign: Stop St. Paul’s Billion Dollar Payroll Tax Hike On Small Businesses – NFIB. Check out recent media coverage of NFIB’s fight against this massive mistake: 2/9/2023, Rochester Post Bulletin: “We believe it’s going to be the most expensive paid family and medical leave insurance program for small businesses in the country,” Reynolds said. … “The average small business is just different from your average big box retailer,” he said. “They’re just starting so much further away from the requirements of the bill than your average large company.” 1/27/2023, Duluth News Tribune, NFIB Editorial: “It’s no exaggeration to say this could be the most expensive paid-leave insurance program for small business in the country. And at a time when small businesses are already losing ground and getting stretched thin from the worker shortage, supply disruptions, and inflation. Many have still not even fully recovered from the pandemic. … This is no time to get fooled again. The warning signs are there, and this state-run paid leave insurance scheme won’t work for small businesses.” 1/10/2023, KARE 11: “This massive new mandate on small business presents major problems at a time when many are struggling to recover from the pandemic and ensuing economic headwinds,” John Reynolds, NFIB Minnesota State Director, wrote to the media. “The $1 Billion tax will eat into small businesses’ shrinking bottom lines, 24 weeks of leave will exacerbate the worker shortage, and small employers face ruinous penalties for program violations.” 12/12/2022, St. Paul Pioneer Press: “Tax increases in any form must be off the table,” NFIB Minnesota State Director John Reynolds said in a news release. “This includes the proposed billion-dollar payroll tax hike that would fund an unworkable new government-run paid leave mandate.”

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