Congress is at it again, using the excuse of the swine flu to mandate paid time off.  This time the pig’s nose is under the tent.  And, this is the way to thank small business during National Small Business Week!?

On Monday congressional Democrats introduced legislation that would mandate employers to give workers seven paid sick days a year.  They argue that the outbreak of the swine flu has made it necessary to require employers to give their employees time off, suggesting that employers and employees aren’t able to make the determination when they should stay home.

Let’s see if we can follow this logic?

Swine flu + Inability for workers to take time off = People coming to work with swine flu = We need mandated paid time off.

But doesn’t this make more sense?

Swine flu + Inability for workers to take time off = Employers realizing it’s not profitable or productive to have employees coming to work with swine flu = Employers will voluntarily offer more flexible schedules.

Unfortunately this debate isn’t going to go away soon.   The bill has 100 co-sponsors and a hearing will be held in the House Education and Labor Committee on June 11^th.  This bill has been introduced before and this time there is going to be a push to include it in the health care reform package that the President wants to sign this year.  

This proposal is the wrong solution – increasing costs and mandates on our small businesses won’t help kick start the economy.  Instead, let’s look for policies that empower the employer and the employee.  Let’s support legislation that allows employees the flexibility to take time off in lieu of overtime pay.  We need policies that work for working families, not mandates that hurt our economy.

One Response to “Mandates for small businesses during National Small Business Week”

1. Scholar Says:
   May 27th, 2009 at 11:55 am

   Sounds like an attempt to take advantage of a general overreaction to something (swine flu–so it seems anyway) to pass failed legislation.

   On the other hand, I think it is important to have policies that support families–realizing that that can take the form of protecting small businesses.

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