This wording would hurt economy, city growth

… AT A time when our city needs to be doing everything it can to attract employers, create jobs and put people to work, we’re facing the possibility of a major impediment to growth.

… While the idea of ensuring every working person has paid sick days sounds benign, even noble, the ordinance proposed would be incredibly detrimental to our economy’s ongoing progress. First, (it) will drastically hurt small businesses. Sick leave is a great employee benefit, … but this proposed regulation overreaches in the most damaging way… .Small businesses … work hard to balance their books, keep their employees happy and still turn a profit. If the city mandates this excessive sick leave policy, businesses that are just making enough to meet their bottom lines will be forced to cut other benefits like vacation time, health care or Christmas bonuses.

The proposed ordinance covers anyone who works within the Albuquerque city limits for more than 56 hours per year. That’s just over a week of fulltime work. Then, it requires employers to track how much sick leave is earned based on how many hours a person works and keep a running tally. Essentially, this forces all employers to track every employee, whether salaried or not, by the hour. … From small nonprofits to large corporations, all are bound by this “one-size-fits-all” mandate. Well, unless your business is unionized. Unions and New York lawyers crafted this law to exclude union jobs.… This is all the evidence we need to understand that the so-called sick leave ordinance is about increased government control and union expansion, not about employee welfare.

Another shocking element of this proposed ordinance is that … employees will not need to prove the policy was violated; instead employers will be forced to prove they followed it. In addition, if an employee was fired for any reason within 90 days of taking sick leave, they can sue for wrongful termination, claiming they were let go because they took advantage of this new policy. Even if they break a company policy, they could sue and win if this dangerous ordinance is passed.

… I urge you to vote against the proposed ordinance. RYAN CANGIOLOSI Chairman, Republican Party of N.M.