Litigation

The paid sick leave scam

By Tracy Coenen

On the November ballots, City of Milwaukee residents may have to vote on whether private employers should be required to provide paid sick leave for all employees.

Here’s what the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says about it:

A coalition led by 9to5, the National Association of Working Women, has mounted a petition drive demanding an ordinance to require the city’s private-sector employers to provide paid sick leave for their workers, and to let those workers take sick days to care for ailing family members.

Sounds good, right? Everyone should get paid time off to care for sick family members, right? It’s just the compassionate thing to do, right?

I disagree. I’m a firm believer that the free market works. Employees are given the wages and benefits they deserve and they earn. Think you’re not being compensated well enough? Find a new job that will pay you more.

Mandating companies to provide certain benefits is ridiculous. It’s one more cost that is forced upon companies in a city, county, and state that is already very heavily taxed. Why should companies want to do business in Milwaukee?

If an employee wants better benefits at work, she or he needs to get the education and training necessary to get a better job. And don’t tell me that they can’t. There have never been more opportunities for the poor and undereducated to change their circumstances if they’re willing to put forth the effort.

A proposal like this would likely get passed by the voters in the City of Milwaukee, the majority of whom think they deserve more handouts than they already get.

I have a solution for employers impacted by such an ordinance: Give the required sick leave days and reduce wages proportionately. Let this silly idea backfire on the 9to5 women. They can’t exactly legislate wages, other than the minimum wage (which is silly too). If employers have minimum wage employees who can’t have their wages cut, then cut the wages of those around them even more to make up the difference.

It’s time for the government to get out of private businesses. They are strangling free trade and capitalism and moving us closer and closer to Socialism, which has been shown to be a failure over and over. Let employees earn the wages and benefits they deserve.

Full post as published by The FRAUDfiles Blog on July 21, 2008 (boomark / email).