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Paid sick leave proposal not ‘overly generous’

On July 9, Michael Saltsman of the Employment Policies Institute in Washington, D.C., wrote to put those of us who think employees should get paid sick leave in our place. Then, on July 10, a letter from Mychael Bartholf let us know that Libby Mitchell is hopelessly out of touch because she sponsored an “overly generous” paid sick leave bill.

So do I feel properly chastened? I think not.

I looked up Mitchell’s “overly generous” proposal. It called for companies with more than 25 employees to give one hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours worked. Companies with fewer than 25 employees would have given one hour for every 80 hours worked.

These benefits work out to 2.5 percent and 1.25 percent of income, respectively. An employee earning minimum wage would get the equivalent of $1.50 or 75 cents per day in added pay.

“Overly generous,” apparently, since the proposal was handily defeated. But remember these excessive payments were supposed to allow her to take time off to care for herself or a sick child.

Saltsman argues that employers, already burdened by having to pay wages, taking hard-earned money from their own pockets, would be forced to reduce wages to make ends meet. He then warns us that employees getting minimum wage would see their hours cut. He berates us for supporting ridiculous ideas such as paid sick leave for hourly employees without realizing that someone else has to foot the bill.

“Employers aren’t cash cows.” Perhaps not, but to Saltsman, and the businesses that pay handsomely to support the Employment Policies Institute, employees are to be milked for as much work as possible for as low a wage as bearable.



David Shipman

China