New regulation mandating paid sick-days for businesses employing five or more employees will take effect in April and will be affecting over 28,000 businesses in NYC. The new law calls for employees to allow employees to have five sick days throughout the year. Many business owners are worried employees will abuse this new privilege and also worried about the financial burden this will have on their businesses.
Some businesses currently offer paid sick days throughout the year, however, most of these businesses are not retail stores employing five employees. Forcing business owners to have to pay a sick person and pay another employee for the additional work that has to be done seems heavy handed by the City. New York is claiming they are trying to help small businesses prosper in the weak economy. How is this happening when all they are doing is adding to the costs of running their businesses? Big companies are already swallowing up these small businesses daily forcing them to shut their doors. How does this new regulation help put a stop to that and help a small business prosper if all it is doing is forcing business owners to open up their checkbooks?
Where are the small business owners expected to find this extra money. It is understandable to mandate a big business with 20 or more employees to have to obey by these regulations but is it fair to force a small business such as a café with 5-10 employees. It will surely eat into the profits as the employer is forced to virtually pay double for the sick persons work. Is implementing these new regulations a step in the right direction? It does benefit thousands of employees but is that marginal benefit worth it to the employees if the business is forced to shut down? Which is more beneficial to society a few sick days or more small businesses providing jobs in this tough economy?
