LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Kentucky’s two largest business chambers – who normally wouldn’t be expected to embrace new government mandates on employers – aren’t saying much about a Louisville lawmaker’s proposal to mandate that employers provide paid sick time given the COVID-19 outbreak.
Sen. Morgan McGarvey, who leads the Senate’s minority Democratic caucus, filed the bill earlier this month. It would make Kentucky one of only about a dozen states to force employers to provide sick time to workers.
The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and Greater Louisville Inc., the business chamber for metro Louisville, each said they’re talking to their members about the bill and don't yet have a stance on it.
Elected officials have been telling workers to stay home if possible to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, but that advice isn’t practical for service industry and other low-wage earners who do not have paid sick time.
“If we don’t work, we don’t make money,” Katye Heim, a server at the Village Anchor restaurant in eastern Jefferson County, told WDRB News in an interview on Thursday.
Heim, who had no reason to think she or co-workers had been infected with the fast-spreading virus, said she might be able to withstand a couple of weeks without pay, but most in the service industry could not.
“Not all of us can afford to take two weeks off if we need to be quarantined,” she said . “…I take Emergen-C and zinc everyday and try to stay hydrated and stay healthy and moving and not stress myself out.”
McGarvey’s bill, SB 282, would require employers with at least 10 employees to allow workers to accrue at least three paid sick days per year. It would be a permanent law, not simply a virus-related measure.
There is no indication the bill has traction in the Senate, which is controlled by Republicans, but McGarvey said he maintains hope for bi-partisan action on the issue before the legislative session concludes April 15.
“My bill is the conversation-starter for the fact that we need paid time off,” McGarvey said. “It is tone-deaf for us to tell people to just stay at home, especially if staying at home means you might lose your home.”
A spokesman for Senate President Robert Stivers did not respond to requests for comment.
Chambers demur on sick-leave mandate
The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and Greater Louisville Inc., the metro area chamber, each declined to weigh in on the merits of the proposal, saying they are studying it.
“We are in communication with our members on this issue, especially small businesses which make up the majority of our membership and will be most impacted by this policy,” Kentucky Chamber CEO Ashli Watts said in an email this week. “Currently we are working with employers to make sure they are keeping their employees safe and utilizing best practices during this time.”
“GLI continues to monitor state and federal proposals related to COVID-19. Our chamber urges regional employers to prioritize workplace safety and wellness during these times, in addition to offering leave policies that are flexible and consistent with public health guidance,” said Iris Wilbur Glick, the Louisville chamber's vice president of government affairs.
Kentucky and Indiana are not among the 12 states – mostly on the east and west coasts – that require employers to provide paid sick leave, according to the Pew Research Center.
Nationally, 73% of private sector workers have sick leave, but Kentucky and Indiana are in regions where that figure is lower – 62% in the East South Central region that includes Kentucky and 65% in the East North Central region that includes Indiana, according to an annual federal survey.
Kentucky lawmakers also ensured in 2017 that local governments such as Louisville Metro cannot mandate employer benefits such as sick leave within their borders, as the progressive Kentucky Center for Economic Policy noted in a recent blog post.
That was part of a bill that repealed the state’s “prevailing wage” requirements on public works projects, one of a handful of measures that Republicans fast-tracked into law during their first week with complete control of state government following the 2016 election cycle.
“Kentucky’s low rate of access to paid sick days is the result of policy choices, not just employer decisions,” Jason Bailey, director of KCEP, said in the post.
Kentucky Restaurant Association CEO Stacy Roof said that while some restaurants do offer paid leave, it’s “such a tough business model” to make sick time a universal benefit. The association hasn’t formally taken a position on McGarvey’s bill, she said.
Restaurants typically operate on 3% to 5% profit margins, and now many are facing a big downturn because of the coronavirus, including customers staying home, lost business from canceled conferences and catered events, no NCAA tournament boost and the cancellation of events like Saturday’s St. Patrick’s Day parade.
“If there is no money coming in, how do they write checks?” she said.
