NFIB responds to group's call for passage of costly business mandates

Explains it could hurt employers and employees

Expanded Paid Leave, $15 Minimum Wage Endanger Small CT Businesses

Bills meant to help workers could put them out of a job by shuttering small businesses

HARTFORD (April 26, 2018) – Connecticut Women’s Legal and Education Fund endorsed bills today that mandate a dramatically higher minimum wage and expand paid leave for employees, saying they will create economic security. NFIB, which represents thousands of small businesses in the state, opposed those mandates which will instead, endanger the economic security of those companies and threaten the jobs they create. That would negatively impact the state’s economy.

The Chairwoman for NFIB in Connecticut, Wendy Traub, who owns a construction firm in the state’s Northwest corner, explained why the labor mandates and their combined impact could result in the shuttering of small businesses and the elimination of jobs.

“Requiring smaller employers to offer 12 weeks of leave will be very difficult for those companies. If a firm has just five employees, a fifth of the workforce could be out for months at a time,” said Traub. “Many of these jobs may also be specialized. There would be recruiting, training and overtime costs incurred for employees who will only be hired temporarily. If the company survives on thin profit margins, which isn’t unusual, it could be a death knell, which means no jobs at all.

“If you add in a $15 minimum wage for employees with no skills or experience, other costly labor mandates, and consider Connecticut’s very high taxes, no business will move here. Those already here may flee. That only hurts all the state’s residents and its economy.”

NFIB opposes a $15 minimum wage, and some recent reports show similar extreme wage increases result in fewer jobs for entry-level workers, lower wages, and reduced hours.

“The wage increase may be well-intentioned, but it will cut entry-level employees out of the job market altogether,” said Andrew Markowski, state director for NFIB in Connecticut. “Pile on a paid leave bill that makes it impossible to get the workload done, and you endanger the small businesses that create half the new jobs in this state. All these potential mandates would have a devastating cumulative effect.”