PROVIDENCE — Rhode Island business associations are objecting to several of the proposed rules for a new sick leave law scheduled to take effect in July, and are encouraging business owners to respond with their own comments.
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The law, approved by the General Assembly and signed by Gov. Gina M. Raimondo in September 2017, requires employers with 18 or more workers to provide three days of leave for their Rhode Island-based employees this year. The law doesn’t apply to public employers, including state or local governments.
The number of mandated sick leave days would increase to four in 2019 and five days in 2020.
Gov. Raimondo and advocates say the law will allow employees to recover from an illness or care for sick relatives without having to worry about job repercussions.
But in notices to employers issued this week, several business organizations say the proposed rules are unclear and in some cases go too far in enacting the law.
The Newport County Chamber of Commerce and Rhode Island Manufacturers Association, among others, have distributed a list of concerns to their membership. Their issues include:
- The groups say the definition of the employee household in the rule proposal is too broad, saying it would essentially allow an employee to take sick leave to care for anyone in the household. The business organizations suggest only dependents of the employee, or someone who can claim them on tax forms as a dependent, should meet this definition. “It was never the intent of the legislature to allow employees to use [paid sick leave] for anyone in their life,” the comments state.
- The associations say the proposed rules do not protect employers who already have provided sick leave to their employees, prior to the law’s approval. They recommend inclusion of a “safe harbor provision” that would give employers who already offer some form of paid time off a 60-day period to come into compliance, if the state finds they aren’t meeting the new requirements.
- The employer associations take issue with the definition of who would qualify for the paid leave. The proposed rule would apply to any employee who works a majority of the time in Rhode Island, not just to Rhode Island-based employers. This means that employers not based here would have to comply, the associations state.
- The employer associations also say the rule is too inflexible as to how the number of company employees is counted. The proposed rule states that the employer with at least 18 employees in their two highest employment quarters must comply. The associations suggest that the 18 employee threshold be maintained for all four quarters.
Mary MacDonald is a staff writer for the PBN. Contact her at macdonald@pbn.com.
