To the editor:
Who doesn’t like a free lunch?
Paid sick leave supporters endorse mandated paid sick days for employees (“Malloy’s Honeymoon Could Be Short One,” Jan. 10) – as long as someone else is footing the bill.
Here’s the hard truth: Employers aren’t cash cows that can be milked for every conceivable benefit that the working public would like to enjoy. That means employers have to find a way to offset any increased labor cost.
For staffers earning $10 or $11 per hour (or more), paychecks will adjust downward accordingly. But what about the less-experienced staff who are already working at the minimum, and can’t legally be paid less? In this case, employers figure out how to do more with less, cutting back on customer service and trimming the number of entry-level workers they hire in the first place.
As the saying goes, a free lunch is never really free. And a mandated benefit that puts your income at risk is no benefit at all.
Michael Saltsman
Research Fellow, Employment Policies Institute
Washington, DC
