‘Catch-22’ for Employers

05.01.2015
Issues & Policies

Connecticut’s paid sick leave policy enables employees to call out sick when ill and be assured of being paid for it.

Back at the office, managers and co-workers scramble to rearrange workloads, hours, and coverage to meet customers’ needs.

That’s the way workplaces work together every day to solve problems and keep business humming.

What to make of a proposal, then, requiring employee schedules to be fixed three weeks in advance, with a penalty on employers if those schedules have to change when workers are out, on paid leave, at a moment’s notice?

Sound like Catch-22?

Advocates for a bill (HB 6933) requiring employers to post employee schedules 21 days in advance —or pay a “predictability tax” if that schedule is changed in any way—held a press conference this week to discuss reviving the proposal. 

The dilemma facing employers—especially small businesses—is having to cover the work of absent workers and now facing a penalty tax for it.

Rather than allow employers to develop their own leave policies that work for them, the state is forcing them to follow inflexible one-size-fits-all inflexible leave policies.

For years, advocates pushing for HB 6933 have supported other proposals mandating that employers provide more paid leave from the workplace. Most forms of mandated leave, like the state’s paid sick leave law, require little to no notice to employers.

The mandate in HB 6933 would financially penalize employers who are attempting to accommodate their employees’ needs that arise suddenly. 

Basic communication has been shown to be the most effective tool for solving this kind of issue. We should encourage more of the natural flexibility already occurring in workplaces, rather than government mandates.

For more information, contact CBIA’s Eric Gjede at 860.244.1931 | eric.gjede@cbia.com | @egjede

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