A one-size-fits-all is onerous on Colorado’s small businesses, says NFIB
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Tony Gagliardi, Colorado State Director, 303-325-6243, [email protected]
or Tony Malandra, Regional Media Manager, 415-640-5156, [email protected]
DENVER, March 11, 2019—The eyes and ears of Colorado’s small-business owners will be tuned to the Senate Business Labor & Technology Committee, Wednesday, March 13, when Senate Bill 188, creating a Family Medical Leave Insurance Program, comes up for a hearing and possible vote.
“No one opposes paid family leave. Many of our members already offer the benefit,” said Tony Gagliardi, NFIB’s Colorado state director. “What our members oppose is a government mandate that assumes every business of any type or size can afford to offer the same benefits as large companies offer their employees.
“Small-business employers are not equipped to have an employee gone for up to 12 weeks and be required to hold the position open, which Senate Bill 188 would force them to do. They will be required to pay 50 percent of each employee’s premium in to run the state program. And most potentially onerous of all, employees will have the right to file a civil action against an employer and receive reimbursement for all costs associated with the claim, whether the claim has merit or not.
“NFIB members come from every sector of the economy and every industry imaginable with the average member having between 5 and 9 employees. How does a small business cope when a worker is absent for 12 weeks? If the business is technical in nature, it could be nearly impossible to find a temporary employee with the skills to perform the job. The sponsors of Senate bill 188 expect the owner to absorb the loss and pay the worker on top of it.
“Advocates insist that paid leave is good for business because workers will be happier and more productive. Advocates are assuming they know more than business owners, which is pretty silly. When our members, who are real business owners, tell us they can’t afford to offer the benefit, it is because they can’t afford the benefit.”
For further comment from Gagliardi, please phone or email him at 303-325-6243, [email protected]
“The vast majority of small employers (73%) offer paid time off (PTO) to the majority of their full-time employees, and 67 percent of them offer two weeks or more of leave. The number of days offered is dependent on an employee’s length of service in 76 percent of small businesses offering the benefit.”
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For more than 75 years, NFIB has been advocating on behalf of America’s small and independent business owners, both in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 state capitals. NFIB is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven. Since our founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses and remains so today. For more information, please visit nfib.com.
National Federation of Independent Business/Colorado
1580 Logan St. Suite 520
Denver, CO 80203
303-831-6099
www.nfib.com/colorado
Twitter: @NFIB_CO
