Crain's New York - March 18, 2013 - (Page 10)
OPINION
Meet the sick-days police
Y
ou may have heard something in the news
last week about a modest initiative from the
New York City Department of Health that
called for limiting sales of sugary drinks to
16-ounce portions. Well, guess which city
agency would be responsible for enforcing
the City Council’s proposed paid-sick-days
law? That’s right: the DOH, which under the latest rewrite
of the sick-days legislation is given incredible policing
powers over any city business with five or more employees.
Family shop or Fortune 500 HQ, it matters not: The
bureaucrats who brought you the beverage ban would have
the power to subpoena and examine your employment
records. Has anyone outside a union hall actually read this
law? Better take a big gulp. DOH investigators can show up
at your store or office demanding a compliance audit with no
more evidence than a claim of wrongdoing by a kvetcher
whose identity you may never learn. Woe to the business that
does not have three years’ worth of paperwork documenting
the hours worked and sick time accrued and taken by each
employee—full-time, part-time or even seasonal. Under this
law, failure to maintain proper records is presumed to be
evidence of a violation. First violation: $1,000. A second
violation within the next five years: at least $2,000.
Been incorporated as a business here for all of 12 months?
Congratulations. You must now comply. Multilingual
written notice must be given to all employees and similarly
worded posters displayed. Personnel manuals and
CRAIN’S ONLINE POLL
orientation materials must reflect the many provisions of the
new law, which include rules governing the swapping of
shifts to cover for last-minute employee absences and the
accumulation of unused paid sick days into future years.
Interestingly, the sick employee must provide little
beyond his or her word. An employer may not demand a
physician’s note until the third day out. Even then, the note
need not specify the nature of an employee’s or family
member’s claimed illness or condition. Naturally, the
employer cannot withhold pay or deny the sick days if the
worker fails to produce even such minimal documentation.
A fired employee
who persuades a
DOH-approved
tribunal that he or she
was wronged by the
employer who dared
dismiss a ne’er-do-well
for abusing the newly
prescribed right to call
in sick five times a year
without a moment’s
warning, well, he or she can be awarded at least $5,000 and
other relief—“including reinstatement and promotion.”
All this in the name of DOH “protecting and improving
public health.” No council member or candidate for high
office in this city who claims to care about businesses and the
jobs they create can want passage of this bill as written.
Gulp: The city’s
Department of
Health would
audit businesses
COMMENTS
Sprechen Sie irony?
newscom
NEIN!
DID THE CARDINALS
CHOOSE THE RIGHT MAN?
Ⅲ Yes. The church picked a Latin American
leader who understands the world’s poor.
Ⅲ Yes. With few ties to Vatican bureaucracy,
he will shake things up.
Ⅲ No. At 76, he’s too old. The last pope retired,
saying he was no longer physically up to the job.
Ⅲ No. He’s too conservative. The church needs
new ideas.
Date of poll: March 14
Total votes: 119
—v.s.
JA!
Enjoyed the tourist piece.
However, your otherwise
perfect German was marred
by the use of das instead of die
on “Yankees.”
18%
Yes
—john kominicki
8%
No
40%
Yes
As a regular reader of your
publication, I was
disappointed by your Editor’s
Note in the March 11 issue
(“Tourist flap”). Your
comments are obnoxious and
a disservice to the tourism
industry the city relies on so
heavily. A little more
consideration and less
arrogance would be well
appreciated.
34%
No
FOR THIS WEEK’S QUESTIONS:
Go to www.crainsnewyork.com/poll to have your say.
10 | Crain’s New York Business | March 18, 2013
President and publisher
Long Island Business News
THE LINGERING IMPACT
OF SANDY JOB LOSSES
Your article “Sandy job losses
were a blip for some” (Crains
NewYork.com) leaves the
mistaken impression that
those who lost their jobs in
the aftermath of Superstorm
Sandy’s devastation were
among the very same New
Yorkers who found
employment the next
month.
Net city gains in
employment do not serve as
proof that a particularly
struggling group of New
Yorkers are in a better position
today than they were in the
immediate aftermath of
Sandy.
In fact, according to the
State Department of Labor,
despite the addition of 19,000
new jobs, New York City’s
unemployment rate actually
rose between December 2012
and January 2013.
Without an in-depth
analysis of the status of Sandy
victims, we will never know
exactly how many are
benefiting from the economic
rebound and how many are
still struggling to return to
their pre-Sandy lives.
My organization, the Food
Bank for New York City, was
among the first responders on
the ground after Sandy,
distributing nearly 1 million
meals to all five boroughs
within the first week of the
storm.
We know that the
devastating impact of the
hurricane exacerbated an
existing hunger crisis in
already poor communities and
intensified the need for food
and other services.
According to the Furman
Center for Real Estate and
Urban Policy, 55% of the
150,000 households who
registered for FEMA
assistance were living on
extremely low wages.
Instead of painting a
picture of a dramatic recovery,
the numbers suggest that
there is still a lot of work to be
done.
—margare tte purvis
President and CEO
Food Bank for New York City
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crain's New York - March 18, 2013
IN THE BOROUGHS
IN THE MARKETS
THE INSIDER
BUSINESS PEOPLE
OPINION
STEVE HINDY
GREG DAVID
REPORT: REAL ESTATE
real estate deals
THE LIST
FOR THE RECORD
CLASSIFIEDS
SMALL BUSINESS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
SOURCE LUNCH
OUT AND ABOUT
SNAPS
Crain's New York - March 18, 2013
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