Workplace Issues

 

 Family and Medical Leave Act:

The Family and Medical Leave Act provides certain employees with up to twelve weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. 

Recently, proposals have been made to expand the Act to require employers provide mandatory sick leave.  Additionally, proposals have been made to extend the Act to employers with fewer employees. Any expansion of the FMLA would create significant burdens on small businesses. Because small businesses have fewer employees, losing an employee for several weeks can severely disrupt their workplace.  It is much more difficult for a small business to adapt to employee absences, and business owners often lack sufficient capital to provide paid leave.  

Many small business owners already provide a great amount of flexibility in allowing their employees to take time off for family or medical purposes. Government mandates take away small employers' and employees' freedom to negotiate the benefits package that best meets their mutual needs.  When considering labor and workforce issues such as this one, Congress must carefully consider the impact on small businesses and ensure that provisions are built into legislation to avoid stifling small business success.

Card Check:

At a time when small businesses are struggling to lead our economic recovery, the proposed Card Check legislation (misleadingly dubbed the Employee Free Choice Act) would create new problems for our biggest job-creators. 

The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 guarantees employees the right to join or form a labor union and to bargain collectively over wages, hours, and other working conditions.  If enacted, the proposed Card Check legislation would put an end to union-organizing elections.  It would mandate employers recognize labor unions without first holding a private-ballot employee election.  This could expose workers to unfair intimidation and coercion by union organizers.  

In addition, the legal and compliance costs that would come with Card Check legislation would hit small businesses especially hard, focing them into a competitive disadvantage with union organizers during its mandatory binding arbitration process.  Employers could be faced with a contract that is completely incompatible with their cost structure and business model.

Card Check legislation would only restrict employee freedoms in the workplace.  Congress must not allow this ill-conceived legislation to become law.