Bloomberg: Sick Leave Bill Is %u2018Disaster%u2019

October 7, 2010, 3:07 PM ET By Michael Howard Saul The Wall Street Journal Mayor Michael Bloomberg all but vowed to veto legislation that would mandate paid sick leave for all workers in New York City, arguing the bill would be %u201Cdisastrous%u201D for small businesses. Bloomberg, who has previously voiced grave concerns about the bill, delivered his strongest statements yet against the... [more]

October 7, 2010, 3:07 PM ET By Michael Howard Saul The Wall Street Journal Mayor Michael Bloomberg all but vowed to veto legislation that would mandate paid sick leave for all workers in New York City, arguing the bill would be %u201Cdisastrous%u201D for small businesses. Bloomberg, who has previously voiced grave concerns about the bill, delivered his strongest statements yet against the legislation when asked Thursday about ongoing efforts to strike a compromise between supporters and opponents of the bill. %u201CIt would be a disaster if the government tries to get in to run small businesses. If they run the bars and restaurants, they%u2019ll try to run everything else,%u201D he said. %u201CThis is going down a path which is a terrible, terrible idea and would be disastrous for New York City.%u201D The mayor pointed out that New York City businesses account for 10% of all new private-sector jobs created this year in the U.S. %u201CIf you want to lose those jobs and lots of others, you start letting the government run small businesses,%u201D he said. %u201CAnd if they run one business, they%u2019ll run the other one. And if they have a cap on it this year, next year they%u2019ll raise the cap.%u201D The bill would require businesses to provide employees up to 72 hours %u2014 or nine days %u2014 of paid sick leave each year. Business with fewer than 20 workers are required to offer employees no more than 40 hours of paid sick leave. Under the bill, sick leave could be used for an employee%u2019s own mental or physical illness or for attending to the illness of a spouse, child, parent, grandparent or domestic partner. [less]