Paid Leave For Workers Hits a Snag

NJBIZ, Oct 29, 2007 by Goldstein, Scott

STATEHOUSE

Top lawmakers say burden is too much for small business

A controversial measure that would give all workers in New Jersey 10 weeks of paid leave to care for sick family members would have to be scaled back to fewer weeks before it could be considered by the full Senate and Assembly, said the state's top legislative leaders.

The bill is one of a number of high-profile proposals that lawmakers are expected to face when the Legislature reconvenes after the November elections.

Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex) and Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts Jr. (D-Camden) told a recent gathering of employers that the bill (S-2249)-as it is currently crafted-places too much of a burden on employers, especially small-business owners.

Proponents of business have long opposed the idea of paid family leave, saying it would create a hardship for employers who lose workers for extended periods. Currently, employers are required to give 12 weeks of unpaid leave-and companies with fewer than 50 employees do not have to grant any leave.

Roberts said the number of weeks in the paid family leave bill is too high and the inclusion of all small business-es, including those with fewer than 50 employees, is too severe. It is believed that small companies find it harder to absorb the loss of workers, business lobbyists said.

However, Roberts did not say the paid family leave bill was dead. He said it would "be discussed in some detail" when the Legislature reconvenes.

The lawmakers' comments came during a Sept. 26 breakfast event at the Forsgate Country Club in Monroe, sponsored by the New Jersey Business & Industry Association (NJBIA). The event was closed to the media, but the lawmakers' comments were released by the NJBIA and confirmed by the lawmakers' offices last week.

The legislative leaders' concerns are significant because both have the power to block legislation. Codey and Roberts determine what bills are posted on the agenda for their respective houses. Both declined requests to be interviewed for this article.

Supporters of the bill, including Gov. Jon Corzine, have said the option of paid family leave would actually lead to better employee morale because workers wouldn't have to choose between taking care of family members and earning income.

Further, they argue the cost of the program would not be covered by employers, but by the workers who would pay more into the existing state Temporary Disability Insurance fund through increased payroll deductions. Depending on their current wages, the increase would range between 28 cents a week for someone making $7.15 an hour to $1.81 a week for the highest paid workers. For the average worker, the increase would cost less than $ 1 per week.

In June, Corzine told members of the AFL-CIO, which supports the legislation, he expects to sign a paid family leave bill into law by the end of the year.

However, Corzine has not said whether he is receptive to reducing the number of weeks in the bill. "What the governor wants is a paid family leave bill that allows workers to balance their jobs and their families, and one that takes into account the concerns of the business community," governor spokesman Brendan Gilfillan said last week.

The legislation, as currently written, would give workers 10 weeks of leave at two-thirds pay, up to a ceiling of $488 per week. The time off could be used to care for seriously ill members of a worker's immediate family, as well as for newborns and newly adopted children.

The bill would cover all companies, including those with fewer than 50 employees that are exempt from current state law requiring business to provide up to 12 weeks a year of unpaid family leave.

"Sen. Codey couldn't be clearer," said Philip Kirschner, president of the NJBIA, which is staunchly opposed to the bill. "He said, I would not post the bill in its current form' and that both of them [Codey and Roberts] said they were looking for changes in the number of weeks. Speaker Roberts was looking at-both of them were looking at-its impact on small business and what might be done to help them."

But supporters of the bill do not seem ready to back down.

"We already agreed to a reduction from 12 to 10 weeks," said Jon Shure, president of New Jersey Policy Perspective, part of a coalition of groups pushing the legislation. "We showed willingness to compromise on that."

An exemption for companies with fewer than 50 employees is a bill killer, he said. "It would be impossible to administer, and it may be unconstitutional to deny paid benefits to some," Shure said. He said calls by critics to exempt small businesses is a red herring to kill the bill.

Sponsors of the legislation say there are employer-friendly stipulations in the bill that prevent workers from abusing paid leave, such as requiring them first to exhaust up to two weeks of available vacation or sick leave. And the bill does not require companies to reserve jobs for those who take paid leave.

The bill has some support in the Legislature, with seven sponsors in the Senate and 17 sponsors in the Assembly. The legislation has moved through two Senate committees, one of which amended it to reduce the amount of paid leave from 12 weeks to 10. No date has been set for a full Senate vote and the bill has yet to get an Assembly-committee hearing.