According to the Fox Business article posted this week, “12 States Push Laws to Require Paid Sick Time“, some 46 million U.S. workers lack paid sick time.   Lawmakers in 12 states are trying to change those statistics.   States such as California, West Virginia, Minnesota and Connecticut have proposed legislation that would require businesses to provide paid sick leave.

On one hand, I can see how this will become another hurdle for a small business to overcome.   “How will  I afford to offer the paid sick time?”   “Will my employees abuse the system?”   “How will  my staff cover  the workload  when  employees are  absent?”   “Will they give me enough notice?”   The proposed federal legislation would provide 7 days of paid sick time to employees who work 30 hours or more a week.

But on the other hand, I feel that  full time employees  deserve the paid sick time.   The majority of U.S. families have two working parents.   If  our children or ourselves become  sick, we should have the opportunity to take a  couple days off without worrying about how it will affect our paychecks.    

So I ask, which side of the fence do you stand on?   For those of you with small businesses, how would this law affect you if it become mandatory in your state?