A Michigan group was given approval to petition the Earned Sick Time Act—a proposal that would order business owners to give their employees an hour minimum in sick time for every 30 working hours—to be placed on the 2018 ballot. Because of successful NFIB efforts in blocking these proposals at the state and local level, labor unions and their front groups are conducting the petition drive to move the fight to the Michigan statewide ballot as a last resort.
Under the proposal, employees could use their accrued time off for physical or mental illness, injuries, health conditions, or caring for a sick family member. For small businesses, employees usually have 40 hours of paid leave per year and a maximum of 32 unpaid sick time to use, according to The Detroit News. Small business owners tend to work with their employees to flexibly give them paid time off when needed, but enforcing paid sick time by law would hurt businesses and their workers. Many small businesses don’t have the ability to afford the costs, and owners might have to consider cutting back on raises and bonuses. Employers might also be faced with difficult choices like giving their employees fewer hours to work or potentially laying off parts of their staff.
The same Michigan group petitioned for paid sick leave for the 2016 ballot, but failed to collect the required number of signatures. NFIB will be working to derail this effort, but your help is needed to defeat this job killing mandate! Do not sign any petition promising “earned sick leave” benefits for workers.
