Rep. Knudsen Urges Businesses to Prepare for Expensive New Mandates Coming January 1st St. Paul, MN — With the Democrat’s new Earned Sick and Safe Time law going into effect January 1st of next year Representative Krista Knudsen (R – Lake Shore) is encouraging businesses across Minnesota to prepare for this onerous new mandate. “This Law will put business owners in an even more difficult position than they already are with out-of-control cost increases which will lead to more inflation.” Said Rep. Knudsen on the law. “This level of recordkeeping will massively expand human resource and compliance costs, especially for small businesses that will need to invest in more staff and complex payroll systems.” The new sick and safe time law requires that all employers in Minnesota offer this minimum level of PTO to full-time, part-time and seasonal employees. These mandates include 1 hour of sick and safe time for every 30 hours worked with accrual of up to 48 hours per year. This also includes carryover from year to year with up to 80 hours held at any time. All of which are to be paid out at the rate for the shift when they are used. “Standardization of sick time benefits will also reduce competition in the employment market that many businesses use as a way to attract employees. By adding this mandated expense to labor costs, it leaves little room for small business owners to offer individualized incentives and benefits to employees." "Another unintended consequence of this legislation is that it will kill jobs across the state. With an additional 48 to 80 hours of cost added to every employee hired this will disincentivize business growth.” A complete list of mandates and reporting requirements is available at the Department of Labor and Industry website here. Rep. Knudsen would encourage every business owner to look through the site to be sure they are ready for this law to take effect. “With an up to $10,000 fine per instance of non-compliance this is more effort by the Democrats to kill as many businesses in Minnesota as they can. I will do everything I can to stop them.” |