The North Carolina General Assembly reconvenes on May 16 for the next legislative session, and while it’s not clear yet which issues will take center stage, small business owners hope that labor issues like mandated paid leave will not be among them.
In many other states, legislative sessions are already well underway, and in many of them, proponents have been pushing key labor agenda items, such as minimum wage hikes, equal pay, paid leave, predictive scheduling, and more. This—and paid leave in particular—makes North Carolina small business owners nervous, reported The News & Observer.
NFIB/NC State Director Gregg Thompson spoke about this resistance on behalf of members. “Small business owners have a very small margin,” he told The News & Observer. “They want to be able to keep their employees and they will do whatever they can if it’s providing them leave or paid leave.” However, they only have so much money in the budget, so they can’t offer—or be required by the state to offer—what they can’t afford. Therefore, individual small businesses must have the freedom to determine what they can do based on their own financial constraints.
In addition to the bottom line considerations, small employers also have smaller staffs, so juggling schedules and making sure the business is still operational with more than one person out is more difficult than it would be at a larger company.
The good news is that North Carolina has a strong record of being a business-friendly environment. In fact, recent employment figures released by the North Carolina Department of Commerce show that the state added 85,879 jobs over the past year. This strong economic footing is largely thanks to lawmakers placing priority on tax relief and a low regulatory burden.
“The General Assembly kept a commitment to North Carolina families to put their needs first,” State House Speaker Tim Moore said in a statement. “The result is sustained economic success and a state on solid financial footing. It’s more good news that tens of thousands of new jobs opened across North Carolina over the last year. We will maintain our proven approach to building a state economy that benefits working people and businesses.”
