Letter to the Editor

To the Editor:

The Spectator news article (“City might mandate sick pay for some workers,” Feb. 1) illustrates one of the problems with a government mandate such as the City Council consideration of paid sick leave legislation. This will have a debilitating effect on small businesses throughout the city. Council leaders even recognize this by their inclusion of a grace period for new small businesses before they must comply.

Unfortunately, this concession does little to address the inherent fact that not all businesses are created equally. Whether it opened last month or 10 years ago, most service industry businesses like restaurants, grocery stores, and corner markets will never profit more than $2,500 per employee. Meanwhile, a small real estate firm or start-up high tech company can easily profit over $50,000 per employee.

So when the City Council debates the costs of mandates like the paid sick leave bill, that $2,500 is virtually wiped off the books. Businesses that can’t turn a profit tend not to last very long, and that’s certainly not good for their workers’ health and welfare. Maybe the folks in city hall and even Congress should start thinking differently about the effect mandates like this have on businesses, not just whether they sound good on paper. Profit Per Employee, which is simply net profit divided by the number of workers, is probably a good place to start.

Troy Flanagan
Profit Per Employee Coalition