Read the latest news release from State Director, Charlie Owens
NFIB quotes research that shows $4-billion impact on Michigan economy
LANSING (May 29, 2018) — The state’s leading small business organization, NFIB, responded today to a ballot proposal that would force Michigan employers to provide paid leave benefits to workers even if a business cannot afford them.
“Michigan will lose 18,000 jobs over the next ten years, and there will be a cumulative reduction in Michigan real output of almost $4 billion, according to a study of the proposal by the NFIB Research Center,” said NFIB’s Michigan State Director, Charlie Owens. “Fifty-three percent of the forecast job losses are jobs that would have been in the small business sector of the economy.” A copy of the NFIB Research Center study on the proposal can be downloaded HERE.
A group calling itself “Michigan Time to Care” is expected to submit signatures today that would put a paid leave requirement before state voters in November 2018. Under the proposed paid leave mandate, employers would be required to grant one hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked. An employee could claim up to 72 hours of paid leave per year (40 hours paid and 32 unpaid in a year for a “small business”).
Under the wording of the proposal, every employer in the state, even those with a single employee, must meet the paid leave requirement. Also impacted by the proposal are state government, local governments, schools, universities, community colleges, hospitals, non-profit charities, religious institutions, the legislature, labor unions, farmers, and more. Only the federal government and the self-employed would be exempt.
Owens said defining small businesses as those with fewer than ten employees doesn’t ease the burden.
“The proposal defines a small business as fewer than ten employees. However, the term employees include part-time and temp workers,” said Owens. “The proposed language also says an employer is not a small business if it had 10 or more employees on its payroll during any 20 or more calendar workweeks, in either the current or preceding calendar year. Every seasonal small business in Michigan hiring summer help would be considered a big business under this proposal.”
Owens also pointed out that the mandate on employers would be for more than just sick leave.
“The backers of this proposal call it paid sick leave, but illness is just one of many reasons an employee could take time off work,” added Owens. “The liberal wording could be used to take paid time off because a friend is sick, for a school meeting, or other excuses. The burden of proof is totally on the employer to prove the reason for absence is not valid.
“The group pushing this proposal is primarily financed by out of state interests that received the bulk of their funding from labor unions, or labor union front groups located outside of Michigan. Most of these groups are also behind the minimum wage ballot drive submitted earlier this month.”
Under the Michigan Constitution, any citizen, or group of citizens, can initiate a law by collecting the required number of signatures on a petition for that purpose. If enough signatures are gathered and approved by the Board of State Canvassers, the proposal is introduced into the state legislature as a bill. The legislature has 40 days to act on the proposal. If they pass the proposal, it becomes law and does not go on the statewide ballot. If they take no action, or the proposal fails to pass, then it appears on the November statewide ballot.
Owens said that a survey of small-business owners who are NFIB members showed strong support for intervention by the legislature to keep the proposal off the ballot. “We must act to keep this proposal off the ballot if we are to avoid Michigan returning to the economic basket-case it was eight years ago,” said Owens. “If lawmakers allow this proposal to go to the ballot and the voters pass it, a three-fourths super-majority of the Legislature would be required to change the law. Then Michigan would be stuck with the most stringent paid leave employer mandate in the country.”
Owens said that while it may sound like a good idea, the proposal’s wording creates a “bait and switch” for workers. “The backers of the proposal don’t want people to know that this mandate to provide paid leave will cause many employers to cut wages and other benefits such as healthcare, vacations, overtime, and bonuses, to pay for the one-size-fits-all mandate.
Owens said NFIB is part of a coalition of other job providers and economic freedom groups in Michigan to defeat the ballot proposal.
