A new bill authored by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez gives employees in the public and private sectors three days worth of paid sick days.
While the law may seem like a victory for employees, the law is making some business owners sick.
Bob Sutherland, who owns four McDonald’s franchises in Chula Vista and 10 throughout the county, said the new law only “burdens” the business owner.
“It has huge financial ramifications,” he said. “When you have to give sick leave to people that are 16, 17 years old, our business model isn’t set up for that.”
In his 44 years as a business owner, Sutherland said he has employed more than 80,000 young workers. He said he also provides health care to senior workers and store managers.
Sutherland said he is concerned with workers taking advantage of the system.
“It’s just something that’s going to be abused,” he said. “It’s just going to be additional days off when they are not sick.”
He said his businesses cant handle the cost of paid sick leave for all his employees.
Gonzalez said she understands business owners’ concerns but insists that the law is needed to protect workers.
Gonzalez said she was inspired to create the law when she worked on the labor council as she witnessed first hand how parents struggled with taking care of a sick child while worrying about a loss of income from missing work.
“For people to be able to live like normal people – especially low wage workers- to be able to pick up their child if they were sick at school, or to take their child to the doctor or to stay home and get better if they were sick was overwhelming,” she said.
Gonzalez said the law is not designed to hurt business owners.
She said of the 23 richest countries in the world, 22 of them offer paid time off, with the United States being the only exception.
Randy Bellamy, who owns Village Cremation Service at 303 F St in Chula Vista said he isn’t sure if the law applies to his business because he only employees two workers in two office locations.
He said one of his workers using paid sick leave could disrupt the workflow for his business.
“I hope we can work around it and they don’t take their sick time leave at the same time,” he said about his two workers possibly using paid sick leave.
“It’s basically there to help the employees, but it does make things a little tougher for the employer.”
California Assembly Bill 1522 kicked in Jan.1, but the right to accrue sick leave under this law went into effect last week for all workers including part-time and temporary employees.
The law applies to every business no matter how big or small a business is, said Gonzalez’s chief of staff, Evan McLaughlin
“Those employees have to be paid minimum wage, they have to have the 8-hour work day, they have all the same labor requirements of any other employer,” McLaughlin said.“So this would just be one of those requirements.”
Workers must work 30-days in the state of California before being eligible for paid sick time.
However, the law does not apply to home health care workers through the state because they are covered by a collective bargaining agreement.
The law gives workers the right to earn paid sick time off – up to three days. One hour is accrued for every 30- hours worked.
“This is something that is like basic human dignity,” the assemblywoman said. “A mother should never have to choose between being a good mom and being a good worker and we got to allow a little bit of that opportunity to earn some paid time off so people can live their lives a little.”
Glenn Loader owns the family owned business Glenn’s Body Shop on 2855 A Ave. in National City. He said the law is just another reason for the government to regulate business owners.
He said his workers are already treated fairly when it comes to sick time.
“If you have good employees, you treat them right,” he said. “If they’re sick, you take care of them.”
Gonzalez said the new bill is helpful for parents.
“I just think that the time has come to have a little balance in the work place,” she said.
“And this isn’t like a gift, this is something workers have to earn and it’s very limited. I think it is a huge step forward for working parents.”
