Enterprise teams come out towards paid household go away proposal

Three influential Maine enterprise teams introduced Tuesday that they oppose a paid household go away proposal pending within the Legislature, however all three teams additionally left the door open to compromise.

The Maine State Chamber of Commerce, the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce and HospitalityMaine, a gaggle that represents tourism companies like eating places and resorts, all stated that they’re towards the paid household go away invoice in its present kind.

However statements put out by all three teams additionally stated they’re keen to hunt a compromise. The bulletins got here a day after the 2 lawmakers who sponsored the invoice, Sen. Mattie Daughtry, D-Brunswick, and Rep. Kristen Cloutier, D-Lewiston, stated they’re keen to make substantive adjustments to the invoice to get it throughout the end line.

The teams didn’t suggest particular adjustments on Tuesday, however are anticipated to put out their arguments this week. The invoice is earlier than the Legislature’s Labor and Housing Committee, which can maintain a public listening to on the State Home at 1 p.m. on Thursday.

Quincy Hentzel, president and CEO of the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce, stated in a letter to members that the group’s leaders are against the proposal as a result of it doesn’t “adequately handle the considerations our members have expressed concerning the invoice.”

Nonetheless, Hentzel stated that “we do intend to return to the general public listening to with actionable compromise proposals for the committee to contemplate.”

The group stated in a message to its members that the invoice locations an excessive amount of of a burden on small companies, would worsen the present employee scarcity and affords extra beneficiant advantages than different states’ applications.

Because the invoice stands now, it might impose a payroll tax of 0.7%-1% of wages, cut up evenly between employer and worker. The invoice units a most tax price of 1%, however the precise tax might be much less relying on the quantity of income flowing into this system. Companies with 15 or fewer employees can be exempt from paying into this system, however most staff, together with part-time and self-employed employees, may declare advantages.

Peter Gore, a spokesman for the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, stated the chamber opposes the invoice however is “supportive of the coverage of paid (household and medical go away), and might be suggesting each alternate options in addition to an openness to discovering a greater answer.”

In a joint assertion, Daughtry and Cloutier stated they’ve labored throughout the previous a number of months to garner assist from companies and “have heard firsthand from employers massive and small throughout the state which might be in favor of a paid household and medical go away coverage that helps each companies and their employees. We stay optimistic that the time and power invested on this effort by so many Mainers will lead to essentially the most collaborative and complete paid household and medical go away coverage enacted in the USA.”

This system would change as much as 90% of wages for a most of 12 weeks of go away for causes that would embrace caring for a brand new child or a member of the family with a medical situation. The profit quantity can be equal to 90% of a employee’s wages for earnings earned as much as half of Maine’s weekly common wage, which is presently $1,036. For earnings earned above that quantity, the payout can be 75% of wages.

Nate Cloutier, director of presidency affairs for HospitalityMaine, stated the invoice “goes past the scope of what’s workable and life like in Maine and we should oppose.”

He stated this system “can be some of the benefit-rich and costly applications within the nation. A Northern New England paid household medical go away proposal would look a lot completely different.”

Cloutier additionally stated that they “stay dedicated” to “persevering with discussions” on a compromise proposal.

Cloutier famous that in New Hampshire and Vermont, which each lately authorised paid household go away, the applications are voluntary. New Hampshire and Vermont presently have Republican governors, whereas Maine has Democratic management of the state Home and Senate, and Gov. Janet Mills is a Democrat.

Mills has not but tipped her hand on her stance on paid household go away, however she has met with enterprise teams and the invoice’s sponsors.

Daughtry famous in Monday’s information convention that the invoice offers hardship exemptions for small companies, which signifies that in some instances – corresponding to a extremely seasonal enterprise – employers don’t have to carry the job open for the employee to return from paid go away.

If Maine passes the invoice, it might be part of the 11 states and the District of Columbia that presently have paid go away legal guidelines on the books, together with Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. Legal guidelines additionally might be handed this 12 months in Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota and New Mexico.

If the invoice is jettisoned, the Maine Folks’s Alliance, a liberal advocacy group,  and the Maine Girls’s Foyer have gathered sufficient signatures to place it on the poll. The teams held off submitting petition signatures this 12 months to see what the Legislature would do.

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