Last week, the President of the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce, Matt Kramer, published a public letter in opposition to the proposed “earned sick and safe time ordinance” under consideration by the St. Paul City Council. The ordinance currently under consideration in St. Paul is similar in many respects to the ordinance recently passed in Minneapolis.
The letter asserts that the proposed ordinance is based on “little data,” “driven by emotion,” and will likely be implemented “with little calculation as to the multi-million dollar impact this will have on the business community.” The letter strongly questions the asserted public health benefits of the proposed ordinance. It notes that there is no available data that shows a correlation between paid sick leave and public health. The letter also discusses the negative impact that the ordinance will likely have on small employers and raises various other concerns with the proposed ordinance. A copy of the letter is available here.
Takeaway: Despite opposition from the business community, the St. Paul City Council is expected to pass a paid sick leave ordinance similar to the one recently adopted in Minneapolis in the near future.
