ABQ City Council to consider mandatory paid sick leave once again

While everyone is focused on the election we at the Rio Grande Foundation are (yet again) gearing up to fight the issue that simply will not die: mandatory paid sick leave. Read about the latest plan here. 

The plan has been put forth by Councilors Lan Sena and Pat Davis. At first it would apply to employers with 10 or more employees.  Smaller companies would face the mandate starting in 2022.

At the Rio Grande Foundation we have long been critical of such mandates and their negative impact on small businesses, but it is truly mind-boggling that this idea is being pushed at a time when many businesses remain shuttered entirely (and have been since March). Other businesses remain partially open or open at only 25%.

We were extremely pleased to see the following comments from Terri Cole, president and CEO of the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce in the aforementioned Albuquerque Journal article,  “Many businesses are barely clinging to life as it is due to the pandemic, and a new mandate could be devastating.

“Small businesses need help, not regulation and relief, not higher costs.” Finally, Cole argued that, “Using the pandemic as a reason to mandate paid sick leave is ‘grasping, unserious and disappointing.'”