Today we attended the CBIA Business Day Event at our State Capitol. It was held in the Legislative Office Building. The event was well attended, by business owners in Connecticut and by members of local chambers from all over the state. It was a great turn out considering the weather was uncooperative.
We were surprised when we were told that Governor Jodi Rell would also be speaking. In her speech she impressed upon us the importance of getting in touch with our state representatives and letting them know our feelings on issues that concern us and any bills up for vote that could adversely affect the business climate in Connecticut. I believe she wanted us to have the impression that the fox was watching the hen house, and no one was watching the fox.
Too late! The business climate in Connecticut is already very unfriendly. And every business owner present held that same opinion. I was surprised by how many of these same business owners, knew very well, how friendly the business climate is in other states. Some had even received what they called very generous offers to re-locate.
Re-locating a manufacturing business is no small task. There are so many things to consider. Relocation to a suitable facility, access to raw materials, access to reputable vendors, the availability of skilled labor, uprooting the lives of your current workforce, and the cost of moving everything. Yet one business owner present said he had moved his company to Indiana, and that his plant manager was hiring people this very day. This, he offered, is what he was forced to do, after fighting with the state for 15 years.
There were complaints about DEP regulations, Workers Compensation Regulations, and the prohibitive Business Entity Tax, that is due to the State each year whether your business had sales or not. But the hot topic of the day was Senate Bill 63 which will require that companies provide mandatory sick pay if they employ 50 or more workers.
Mandatory sick pay! What are they thinking? Add more burden on those of us who are managing stay afloat! State employees enjoy paid sick leave. Should we run our businesses, like the state is run? Our great State of Connecticut which currently holds a $500 Million deficit!
State Senator Edith Prague, representing Connecticut’s 19th district is a sponsor of this bill, and has tried to bring it to the floor for a vote a number of times. She was not well liked by most of the business owners we spoke to, so I was surprised when she showed up in the assembly room and took a chair. Here was the Senator everyone had been waiting for.
Business owners’ who had arranged in advance to make statements that morning, gave great detailed presentations on why this bill, if passed, would be a burden on their company. Facts and figures were given and it became obvious that these business owners were passionate about this bill. A restaurant owner stated how difficult it was to find replacements for wait staff when they call in sick and that having to pay his wait staff sick days would put him out of business. Senator Prague followed with a statement that claimed that as a restaurant owner he was jeopardizing the health of the public by making sick people work and serve the public. Of course, he said nothing of the kind. Soon statements got heated, and some business owners started voicing their opinions out loud, and not in order. Voices were raised, people started shouting. Well I guess this is not proper behavior at our State Capitol.
Senator Prague, rose to leave but reminded everyone that there will be a public hearing on this issue, Thursday, February 24th, at 2PM and they were welcome to attend and give their opinions. She said everyone’s statements would be taken into consideration. That hearing should be very interesting.
One of the proposals in this bill, would require employers to give one hour of sick pay for every 40 hours worked. Full and part-time employees alike. Now we have a very generous vacation policy here that employees can use in a pinch if they are sick and don’t want to loose a days pay. So I sat down and did the math and figured what it would cost us to also provide sick days to our hourly employees, at the rate of 1 hour per 40, annually. It would cost us an additional $22,000 per year! This would pay the salary of a new entry level worker at our plant. It does not make sense to pay out more for unproductive time. Shouldn’t the State be helping companies to increase their workforce, and not increase the expenses that affect our bottom line? If you are located in Connecticut, it is not too late to voice your opinion on this bill. Contact your own representative and/or the members of the Labor Committee who will vote on this bill.
Here is a link to the Labor Committee’s page on the State’s legislative website,
You can view the hearing live on CT-N via the web (not sure about the TV): http://www.ct-n.com/daily_schedule.asp?date=2/25/2010# beginning at 2 p.m. today. Great summary of the day! Thanks.
“Now we have a very generous vacation policy here that employees can use in a pinch if they are sick and don’t want to loose a days pay. So I sat down and did the math and figured what it would cost us to also provide sick days to our hourly employees, at the rate of 1 hour per 40, annually. It would cost us an additional $22,000 per year!”
You should actually read the legislation, don’t just trust what CBIA tells you. On this specific point, they are factually wrong. Under this legislation, you would not be required to add paid sick time if you already provide vacation time.
Here is the exact language from the bill:
(c) An employer shall be deemed to be in compliance with this section if the employer offers any other paid leave or combination of other paid leave that (1) may be used for the purposes of section 3 of this act, and (2) is accrued in total at a rate equal to or greater than the rate described in subsections (a) and (b) of this section. For the purposes of this subsection, “other paid leave” may include, but is not limited to, flextime, compensatory time, paid vacation, personal days or paid time off.
Since you already offer generous vacation time, as you say, you would not be impacted by this legislation.
Sometimes it’s good to get the facts before forming an opinion.
Sorry, I do not agree with the bill in any case. I realize that our company would not be affected. That is no reason to be for it. I am still against any government bill that places a burden on businesses today, it would be adding to the problem, not creating solutions. This is not the time for a bill like this. There are many people who are out of work, who would be thankful for any job offered, even if it did not include paid sick time. This bill will cost some jobs and our economy cannot afford to loose any more jobs.
Vote it down.
Tom Rohlfs
Agreed. The only way to get it voted down is by business contacting their legislators and making that known. Thanks again for such a spot-on summary and opinion.
I understand you do not agree with it, but it’s still important to be truthful and accurate about what we say. I can understand being against government mandates philosophically, but I don’t agree with the hysteria this issue has caused and I don’t think it’s constructive — from either the left of the right.
My business also already provides more generous leave than this legislation would require. It won’t impact me. I can’t in good conscience claim that it would be harmful to my business.
There are some businesses that offer no paid time off of any kind, especially restaurants. I saw the story on the news about the school bus driver who went to work with H1N1 for a week. That seems crazy to me.
Of course it is crazy for a bus driver to report to work if they are sick, and it is wrong for an employer to fire someone who is genuinely sick. But those are bad bosses, or people who make terrible choices. The government cannot legislate morals or common sense. I don’t expect a restaurant to pay sick days to their employees. It is not the same business model as my manufacturing business. We offer good benefits to attract highly qualified, experienced employees. If we didn’t they’d go to work for our competitors. Business owners should be able to make their own decisions about what benefits to offer their employees. The benefit package, like the pay package is based often based on their industry. The state should stay out of it. They are just going to drive more businesses out of this state, or into closure.
Yes I do care if even a restaurant in this state goes out of business.
Sorry, I still believe that this bill if passed, will have a negative affect on my business. Because it will only be the beginning, once the legislators get away with it. They need to sit down and do the hard work of cutting back on their spending.
We have already notfied each member of the labor committee and urged them to vote against this bill.
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I own child care centers and can say that we already offer sick time to our full time employees but to have to pay part time high school workers sick time is crazy. Because of STATS REGS we have alot of part time workers. So we can let some part time people go which will hurt alot of young people or raise our prices which will make it harder on our costumers or not give the 3% pay raise that everyone gets each year. So it soons like somebody will get hurt.