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SB 454-A Action Alert

Mandatory Paid Sick Leave Mandate

(House of Representatives)

May 20, 2015

Senate Bill 454-A mandates that all Oregon businesses with 6 or more employees provide 40 hours per year of paid sick leave.  Businesses with 5 employees or less are mandated to provide at least 40 hours per year of unpaid sick leave.  Employees accrue sick leave at a rate of 1 hour per 30 hours worked starting from the first day of employment.  Employees are entitled to take sick leave in as little as one hour increments.

Please use and personalize any of these points in corresponding with your local Senator – we are now directing our feedback to the House of Representatives:

 

  • SB 454-A is effectively a new 3% payroll tax on small business with as few as six employees. Local small business – trying to compete with larger businesses and out of state firms – are put at a competitive disadvantage when they are saddled with such mandates.
  • The Legislative Revenue Office (LRO) concludes that the sick leave mandate in SB 454-A will cost Oregon small businesses approximately $976 million in new compliance costs.
  • SB 454 unfairly targets our smallest, most vulnerable business members by requiring that all businesses provide the paid benefit down to six employees. It places the entire burden of the program cost on the business owner, many whom do not offer sick leave benefits simply as a matter of affordability.
  • SB 454-A does not require any employee “investment” in their job or with their current employer, or specify that any employee must meet a minimum employment duration threshold before becoming eligible for the benefit
  • SB 454-A will force small employers to reevaluate their compensation practices and employee benefits in order to accommodate the cost of the new sick leave mandate. Mandating that employers prioritize sick leave will cause loss of benefits that employees value more.  The costs will include freezes in wages, reallocation of vacation or other benefits to cover sick leave, or the loss of other cash benefits such as bonuses or profit sharing.
  • SB 454 is written to allow sick leave to be taken in 1-hour increments, which presents counter-productive personnel management and record-keeping challenges for small employers.
  • SB 454-A erodes the fundamental and historical responsibility and right of a business owner to run their organization and to offer the benefits they can afford commensurate with the human resource forces in the marketplace
  • Our community and local economy grow when our businesses grow. Our local small business economy is not strong enough for employers to incur these added payroll and managerial costs without negative ramifications for business growth and employment growth in our community.  Our community needs business growth and job growth far more than it needs a new mandated employee benefit.

 

Please direct this correspondence to:

  1. Your local state representatives

And copy your correspondence to these key representatives:

  1. Representative Jeff Barker (rep.jeffbarker@state.or.us)
  2. Representative Betty Komp (rep.bettykomp@state.or.us)
  3. Representative Caddy McKeown (rep.caddymckeown@state.or.us)
  4. Representative David Gomberg (rep.davidgomberg@state.or.us)
  5. Representative Jeff Reardon (rep.jeffreardon@state.or.us)
  6. Representative Brian Clem (rep.brianclem@state.or.us)
  7. Representative Deborah Boone (rep.deborahboone@state.or.us)
  8. Representative John Lively (rep.johnlively@state.or.us)

 

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