WASHINGTON — In a 9-0 vote, Montgomery County’s council members voted in favor of a bill that requires employers to give full time employees seven paid sick days.
Employers with fewer than five workers would have to offer seven sick days. Of those, four would be paid and three would be unpaid.
According to Melissa Broom of the Working Matters Coalition, the passage of the bill makes the county the 24th jurisdiction in the United States to require paid sick leave. Broom calls the county’s legislation among the strongest in the nation and insists the bill will not chase businesses out of Montgomery County.
“Our neighbors in D.C. — they still have restaurants operating, they still have businesses locating there. This is good for business.”
The vote came after discussion that included concerns for small businesses and those that employ a number of teenagers. Council member Sydney Katz, who referenced his own background as a business owner said it was important for the council to strike a balance.
“It has been said that many employees are a paycheck away from disaster. Well candidly, so are many small employers.”
And, Katz added, “For there to be an employee, there has to be an employer.”
Council member Craig Rice sought to carve out an exemption for businesses that hire a number of underage workers, like Gaithersburg’s Smoky Glen Farm.
Rice argued an exemption would make certain that jobs would be preserved. But council member Tom Hucker argued against that saying that a number of teenaged workers actually help contribute to family income.
“The unintended consequence — I fear — of this amendment is that it sets up a perverse incentive for an employer to lay off a covered 21 or 20-year-old with a child and hire a 17-year-old who — under the amendment — would not be entitled to sick leave.”
That amendment failed.
WTOP’s Kate Ryan contributed to this report.
