On April 13, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick’s administration announced their support for a proposal that would require all in-state employers to give their employees at least seven paid sick days a year. According to The Boston Globe, 1.5 million workers in the state of Massachusetts don’t have access to paid sick days. Under the new proposal, employees would earn an hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked, with a cap of seven paid sick days every year.
First of all, no other state has ever guaranteed sick leave for all employees in the state, probably because it should be a matter that is left up to the individual business and not the government. A similar bill is in discussion in California, but that bill has been proposed every year since 2008 and still hasn’t made much headway.
If Massachusetts officials decide to impose restrictions on how many sick days employees need, what’s next for government regulation of business? Isn’t there enough regulatory crossover as it is? The government should not be regulating the intricacies of a business’s practice, nor should it impose a blanket rule for all businesses, varied in size and type as they are.
According to The Globe, many small business owners are vehemently opposed to this proposal because they say mandatory paid sick time within small operations could very well put their companies out of business.
Patrick’s top labor adviser called the proposal “a basic right,” but ultimately it is not the government’s place to impose restrictions on a business. Companies are not forcing their employees to work, and as such, those employees should not need the government to step in and tell the companies that they need time off. This transaction should be between employer and employee.
Currently, State Rep. Kay Khan, the bill’s co-sponsor, is reaching out to businesses in the area to garner support for the bill, but Khan, along with Gov. Patrick and his staff might want to worry about the larger problems the state faces rather than mandating paid sick days for the state’s businesses. In his new term, perhaps Patrick should concern himself with reducing the deficit instead of meddling with business practices and infrastructure.
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