Should NJ companies be mandated to offer paid sick days?

Were I running my own company, I would probably offer sick time to my employees.

To me, it only makes sense. Why have a sick employee come to work and infect everyone – or have an employee with a sick family member not be able to attend to him or her?

But that’s just me. I’m not running your business. You may have misgivings that sick time is not to be abused. Or you may have to bring in extra help to cover the employee who’s out on sick time.
See, I’m not running your business.

How I run mine may be different than how you run yours.
So do you think you should be mandated to offer sick time to employees – depending on the size of your business?

Officials in state government, and especially Assemblyman Vincent Prieto (he of the pronounced mustache) seems to think so.
That’s why he’s advancing a bill that would require employers to give paid sick days to all workers.

According to an article on NJ.com, Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto had this to say about it:

“New Jersey’s middle-class and working poor have waited far too long for this basic step forward in worker rights,”

 

“I support every local effort to adopt this pro-worker policy, but I also feel strongly that this must be a statewide policy that helps all workers,” Prieto said. “This would especially benefit workers in the health, education, social services, hospitality and retail industries and provide needed assistance to part-timers, all while improving morale and reducing the spread of illness in the workplace.”

 

So again, just to quote Michael Egenton, vice president of government relations for the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, he said the bill is an “intrusion on the free enterprise system.”

I guess he forgot that we’re in New Jersey - where “free enterprise” is just an illusion.

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