Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Carl Hum, on behalf of the 5 Boro Alliance, testified before the Committee on Civil Service and Labor of the New York City Council on Nov. 17, 2009, in opposition to its proposed Paid Sick Time legislation (Intro No 1059). Below is the testimony:
Good afternoon Chairman Nelson and the distinguished members of the Committee on Civil Service and Labor. My name is Carl Hum and I am the president and CEO of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you this afternoon. I have the distinct honor of representing the views of my sister borough-based Chambers in the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island. Collectively, the 5 Boro Chamber Alliance represents over 5,000 member businesses throughout New York City. We are joined today with a diverse coalition of industry groups, businesses and non-profit organizations to voice our concern over Intro 1059.
Let us be clear – our membership is not opposed to paid sick leave. In fact, in a recent survey of our collective membership, two out of three members already offer paid sick leave. What our membership is opposed to is government depriving its ability to determine the appropriate benefit package for its employees. Our membership and the business community clearly understand that any successful, profitable organization begins with motivated and healthy employees. But let us determine with our employees how these benefit packages should be designed.
The rank-and-file of our collective membership are small businesses who are already faced with the challenges of a precarious economy marked by tight credit markets and double-digit unemployment. But these small businesses have for the most part quietly shouldered their burden whether it is the sales tax hike, the imposition of a mobility tax, or increases in water and utility rates. However, this bill may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
The U.S. Department of Commerce notes that during prior recessions it has been the entrepreneurial class and small business community that have led the nation into recovery. However, this can only be done if the small business community is afforded the freedom to respond to an uncertain market. You will hear from this panel and from individual business owners throughout the afternoon exactly how much this will add to overhead costs, compound administrative activities and ultimately restrict their flexibility to operate their business.
The major premise articulated for this bill is to respond to the H1N1 virus pandemic. If that is the case, then let’s sit together to figure out a creative way to provide assurances to workers so that they don’t have to make the wrenching choice between sending a sick child to school or taking a day from work. After all, many of our business owners are parents too, and face the same dilemmas that their employees do.
If the issue is bad employers who unfairly terminate or reprimand employees for taking a sick day, then let’s deal with that on a case-by-case basis by perhaps enabling the Human Rights Commission to hear such cases. Otherwise, Intro 1059 is a well-intentioned but overly broad bill that fails to recognize the diversity of our business community, its varying needs and strategies for creating and maintaining jobs in New York.