LEGISLATIVE ALERT

SB 472: Mandated Paid Sick Leave (Maryland Healthy Working Families Act)

The Maryland Chamber is looking for oral and written testimony for the Senate version of this bill. It is important for you to tell legislators how this will impact your business.   The Senate Finance Committee hearing is TOMORROW, Thursday, March 3, 2016, starting at 1 p.m. in the Miller Senate Office Building, 11 Bladen Street, Annapolis, MD. Click here to download a handout outlining the bill and key points of opposition. Please contact the Chamber at advocacy@mdchamber.org if you wish to testify or submit written testimony. Bill Summary: This bill requires employers with 10 or more employees to provide paid sick and safe leave. If the employer has 9 or less employees, the employer is required to provide unpaid sick and safe leave. The Bill Specifics: 1. provide up to 7 days (56 hours) of paid leave to employees working at least 8 hours per week (1 hour for every 30 hours worked); 2. Accrue the leave from an employee’s first day of work; 3. Permit the employee to use the leave by at least the beginning of the 4th month of work or after the first 480 hours worked; 4. Permit the employee to use the leave for preventative care, illness or certain situations involving domestic violence for themselves and/or a family member; 5. Roll at least 56 hours of leave over from year to year; 6. Reinstate any accrued, unused leave at the time of termination to an employee who is rehired within 12 months; 7. Permit the employee to use this leave in the smallest increment that the employer’s payroll system uses and not more than one hour increments; 8. Applies to all employees who work more than 8 hours a week; 9. A family member includes:  a biological child, an adopted child, a foster child, or a stepchild of the employee; a child for whom the employee has legal or physical custody or guardianship; a child for whom the employee is the primary caregiver; a biological parent, an adoptive parent, a foster parent, or a stepparent of the employee or the employee’s spouse; the legal guardian of the employee; an individual who served as the primary caregiver of the employee when the employee was a minor; the spouse of the employee; a grandparent of the employee; the spouse of a grandparent of the employee; a grandchild of the employee;  a biological sibling, an adopted sibling, or a foster sibling of the employee; or the spouse of a biological sibling, a foster sibling, or an adopted sibling of the employee; and, 10. Does not require an employer who to modify their existing policies; if, the policy allows the employee to access and accrue leave at the same rate or greater than prescribed in the bill and use leave for the purposes outlined. Key Opposition Points: The bill requires the accrual of leave of 1 hour for every 30 hours worked. Employers’ current policies utilize other accruals (e.g., by days or weeks worked or pay periods), which means that they would be forced to change accrual methods, which would be complicated, costly, and burdensome.   The bill creates an additional private right of action against employers, and for employers of all sizes, defending litigation can be costly.  As drafted, an employer is not permitted to validate the use of sick leavethrough documentation until an employee has missed two consecutive shifts. This is so even if an employee claims he has taken a day or morning off to go to a doctor. This is an invitation for abuse and administratively would be difficult to manage.  Even if you already have a paid sick leave or paid time off (PTO), you would be required to meet the minimum requirements of this legislation.