More than 1,500 business members of ABC Maryland continue to oppose legislation which would mandate employers provide paid leave for a variety of different situations. In their own words, they share why this legislation is bad for business and bad for Maryland’s economy.
At a time when the construction industry is still feeling its way out of the recession, a mandate for paid sick leave could be devastating to Maryland’s economic growth. It could prove counterproductive in the area of job creation because it may stymie our ability to hire new employees based on our anticipated increase in costs. – Construction Owner
The marketplace is where wages and benefits should be determined. It’s a basic premise of our free enterprise system. For businesses to survive, we need the flexibility to deal with the needs of our own employees, not a legislative mandate that doesn’t understand the needs of the marketplace. —Construction Owner
It’s difficult to follow and create a benefit mandate program that reaches the needs for all employers, across all industries. What might work for one, could be a disaster for another. There’s tremendous benefit in allowing individual companies tailor their benefit programs as they see necessary. –Construction Owner or Industry Expert
The cost to the construction industry to implement and administer a paid sick leave law would be significant. Last year’s fiscal note, attached to H.B. 385, estimated the cost per employee to be the equivalent of a $416 per employee increase—an estimate we believe is low. For some companies and their employees, especially those with a small number of workers, the end result may be a loss in other types of benefits that are not mandated, a freeze on salaries, or, in the worst case scenario, a reduction in the number of employees to offset the increase in costs. –ABC Maryland spokesperson