Right time for paid family leave?

Posted on March 3, 2008 by grim

From Newsday:

After more than a decade, paid work leave bill finally gets big vote

The state Senate was set to vote Monday on whether to make New Jersey the third state to let workers take paid leave to care for a sick relative or a newborn.

It would be the first full vote on the measure backers have sought for 12 years. The bill would grant employees six weeks of paid leave.

“It does the right thing for working men and women,” said Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester.

Businesses, though, contend the bill will hit them hard amid a sagging economy.

“We’re entering a recession, employers are already struggling and this will do nothing but worsen the situation,” said Jim Leonard, a New Jersey Chamber of Commerce vice president.

The bill was approved Thursday by an Assembly committee and is expected to be considered by that house in the coming weeks. Gov. Jon S. Corzine has said he would sign it, but it has become the subject of an aggressive campaign to defeat it.

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98 Responses to Right time for paid family leave?

  1. grim says:
    March 3, 2008 at 6:24 am

    From the Courier Post Online:

    State can’t afford family leave plan

    Enacting paid family leave will hurt businesses and hasten their departure from this state.

    The business climate in New Jersey is on shaky ground by liberal estimates and in real trouble by conservative estimates.

    A survey of about 1,300 businesses in the Garden State released in December found that half expect the state’s economy to get weaker this year. Only a quarter of businesses expect to hire any new employees this year, while the rest expect to either maintain their current employment level or cut back their number of employees.

    The bottom line is, we’re not growing jobs very well in this state right now.

    So it’s mystifying that the state Legislature seems so determined to push forward with a paid family-leave plan that will surely be tough on existing businesses and cause other businesses that might have thought about moving here to reconsider. A state Assembly panel voted 6-2 last week to approve the plan.

  2. grim says:
    March 3, 2008 at 6:41 am

    From the Star Ledger:

    Paid work leave bill finally gets big vote

    The state Senate will vote on a bill today that would allow New Jersey workers to take up to six paid weeks off to care for sick family members or newborn or newly adopted children.

    Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester), the bill’s sponsor, said it was 12 years in the making and will help working families.

    “I’ve heard testimony from critics who argue that they cannot afford to provide this type of leave time for their employees, but I say that we cannot afford not to,” Sweeney said.

    New Jersey Business and Industry Association President Philip Kirschner noted a report released Wednesday that showed employment growth at a virtual standstill in the state, expanding by a mere 3,700 jobs, or just one-tenth of 1 percent in 2007.

    He said the legislature would be disconnected “from economic reality” if New Jersey becomes just the second state in the nation to “impose a paid-family-leave mandate on all employers.”

  3. Mitchell says:
    March 3, 2008 at 10:13 am

    What a Douche

    “We’re entering a recession, employers are already struggling and this will do nothing but worsen the situation,” said Jim Leonard

  4. Shore Guy says:
    March 3, 2008 at 11:42 am

    Wow! One more reason to relocate a business in NJ instead of DE, PA, NY, CT.

  5. Commanderbobnj says:
    March 3, 2008 at 8:27 pm

    With all the problems this state has, we find those WHORE DEMOCRAPS find time to further the destruction of our private enterprise companies…..

    Plain and simple: New Jersey does not need ANY NEW STUPID LIBERAL PIE-IN-THE-SKY SOCIAL PROGRAMS !!!

    As I have been saying on this blog for the past 1 -1/2 years: New Jersey is becoming
    more and more unaffordable for the middle class——Most of our salaries are not going up anyway near what it costs to live here……….Coming soon: average property taxes of $ 15,000-to- $ 18,000/year for Capes,Split-levels, and Bi-levels

    With this ‘family leave bill’, as others have said: The remaining good-paying businesses/industries will phase out their operations in this state and the rest of us will pick up the ever-increasing local tax burden…
    GOD HELP US !

    Commander Bob

  6. bruiser says:
    March 3, 2008 at 10:36 pm

    Well, my current employer already offers a better paid family leave benefit.

    I mean, as of today, they used to offer that benefit. Now the State has decided to take over. Same as my Dad’s retirement medical plan…State says it can do better than private industry, so private industry said “OK, take it!”

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