Paid sick leave can be good for businesses

I get really tired of the knee-jerk reactions of special interest groups against any new idea. But such is the state of our system of democracy today. What we need are solutions to problems that such organizations can accommodate—give a little.

Business organizations should support an earned, paid sick leave law because it is the right thing to do and it will be good for business.

Witness in a recent National Public Radio report, the owner of the Pond House Café in Hartford, CT (with fewer than 50 workers) has offered paid sick time for a decade. The owner noted that providing paid sick leave hasn’t been a large cost impact on his business and that it has helped with the retention rate of his employees. According to NPR, he noted that “his competitors don’t poach his employees as easily.” I’m sure he is not alone.

And of course sick workers make lousy workers. Sick workers spread disease. Perhaps business owners who oppose providing sick leave should have to pay a healthcare tax as an alternative because they are spreading sickness!

Signed,

Marilyn Askin

Chief Legislative Advocate

AARP New Jersey