In terms of job creation, Connecticut is a laggard. For years, we have trailed all the other New England states in percentage growth. And yet, last year we managed to catch up, with a chance of accelerating that this year. Finally, finally, we have begun to grow.
And just as we do, the bone-headed General Assembly wants to give employers plenty of incentive to stop hiring people.
We are not talking about the big corporations. Heaven knows, they already have lots of reasons – Wall Street analysts second-guessing them, grumpy shareholders, upstart unions — to keep their ranks as lean as can be. Now we seem hell-bent on making hiring as intolerable and expensive as possible for mid-size companies, too.
The state Senate last week passed a measure that would force all companies with 50 or more employees to give one hour of paid sick leave to employees for every 40 hours worked. At press time, the measure was headed for the state House of Representatives, where its future was uncertain.
It would be bad if this bill becomes law. But it’s horrifying that it got past even one chamber of the legislature. Do our solons have any concept at all of what the free market is supposed to be about?
Different companies offer different benefits. Some offer sweeping perks for some employees, less for others. Some offer nearly nothing. But what they do, they do for a reason. If they offer broad benefits, it’s because they find doing so is in their company’s best interests. Maybe it helps them hire better people. Maybe it helps them keep good people. Maybe it’s just something the chief executive wants to do. Whatever the reason, the company believes it’s something it not only needs to do, but can afford to do.
Which is why, when other companies don’t offer such benefits, it’s because they believe it’s not in their best interest to do so. And that’s usually because they can’t afford it.
Workers interviewing for jobs know whether they’re being offered paid sick leave. They have the right to accept or decline any offer made to them. And they have the right to look for another job, with better benefits, whenever it pleases them.
Companies are not the nannies of the populace. When lawmakers try to make them so, they’re putting significant obstacles in the way of hiring. Every mandate is another cost urging employers to keep the lid on hiring.
If legislators in Hartford want to help their constituents, they should look for ways to ease the burdens on companies, making it more cost-effective for them to grow in Connecticut. They shouldn’t be spending their time championing measures that only add, unnecessarily, to the high cost of doing business here.
