NYC Mayor Proposes Guaranteed Paid Vacation [POLL]

Taking a vacation is — hopefully — something everyone gets to do if they have a job. However, getting paid while you take a vacation isn't necessarily guaranteed.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to make the Big Apple the first city in the nation to guarantee vacation time with pay for private employees of businesses with five or more workers.

NYC government already gives its employees more than two weeks of personal paid leave each year.

The mayor's proposal, which would have to be approved by the city council, would affect a wide range of jobs, including 200,000 people in hotel and food service, 180,000 people in professional service and 90,000 retail workers.

All this comes on the heels of de Blasio's announcement of a plan to make sure everyone in the city, including undocumented immigrants, has access to health care and New York State raising the minimum wage.

De Blasio said that guaranteeing paid vacation would make the city on par with a number of other industrialized nations, such as Canada, Japan, France and the United Kingdom, with similar guarantees.

The mayor has support from City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and Brooklyn Councilman Jumaane Williams, who will be the lead sponsor of the legislation and introduced a similar measure back in 2014.

Nicole Gelinas, of the Manhattan Institute, said the proposal is not such a big deal, because the majority of employers in the city already offer their workers paid vacation.

However, it could adversely affect small businesses who may have more than five employees, she told CBS New York.

Gelinas said if someone is working for a small, struggling company, such as one that is fighting Amazon and dealing with higher property taxes and health care costs, it "could it send some companies over the edge of not being able to be a viable business."

Now it's time for you to weigh in. Should employees be guaranteed paid vacation time? Vote in our highly unscientific poll and tell us why in the comments.

Photo caption: Mayor Bill de Blasio is seen on Dec. 21, 2018. Photo credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.