FMLA Proposal: The Closer You Look, the Rougher It Looks

I’ve already written about the proposed paid family and medical leave mandate for companies with as few as two employees.
It’s just another big, unneeded payroll tax on Connecticut’s workforce.
And looking deeper into this issue uncovers even more hidden problems–including potentially show-stopping costs.
An Institute for Women’s Policy Research study on the issue reveals the multimillion-dollar price tag to administer this new proposed mandate.
At a time when Connecticut faces a newly estimated $900 million shortfall for the next fiscal year, this new proposal would pile on $13.6 million in one-time startup costs, burn $18.5 million in annual administrative costs, and require 120 additional state employees.

That means in year one, some $32 million collected from employee contributions (and over $18 million in each following year) will go to feed the bureaucracy required to run it--not into the hand of the beneficiaries.
That's essentially a payroll tax to directly fund an unnecessary agency.
Governor Malloy has called on policymakers to recognize, accept, and live with a new economic reality and spend only what we can afford.
This FMLA proposal totally ignores that reality.

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Pete Gioia is an economist with CBIA. Follow him on Twitter @CTEconomist.