Background: As we have seen from our readings in the textbook, many federal statutes designed to protect employees only apply to large employers. For example, FMLA only applies to companies with 50 or more eligible employees. Meanwhile, state statutes dont always fill the gaps, or if a state statute has been enacted, it may exempt small employers. For example, see the information uploaded into D2L regarding Minnesotas Parental Leave laws, which state that Minnesota employers with 21 or more employees must provide parenting leave for employees who have recently give birth, or who need caregiving time for a sick family member. This means that employers with 20 or fewer employees do not have to provide maternity leave or leave for an employee to be a caregiver for a sick child or ailing parent. In addition, a growing number of cities have enacted ordinances requiring employers to provide paid sick leave to employees. Minneapolis and St. Paul have both enacted such ordinances. Under the ordinance in effect for Minneapolis, employers with 6 or more employees must provide paid sick leave; for 5 or fewer employees, the sick leave may be paid or unpaid. After two years of litigation, the Minnesota Court of Appeals recently held that these ordinances apply to employees who only spend part of their time in Minneapolis or St. Paul, regardless of where the employer is located. This means ALL employers must track how much time their employees spend in these jurisdictions, or adopt a policy that satisfies the sick leave requirements of the most restrictive jurisdiction where the companys employees work.i Many owners and bosses in small businesses sympathize with employees who need to take time off for various reasons, such as the birth of a child or the care of an ailing spouse or parent. These owners and bosses may also recognize the advantages of offering certain paid leaves in order to retain good employees. However, these businesses face several large challenges to actually providing leaves to employees: 1. Financial hurdles: It can be expensive for small businesses to pay employees for time theyre not working, or to hire and train temporary workers to fill gaps left by employees out on leave. 2. Administrative headaches and expenses: For a small business operating in several neighboring jurisdictions, it can be difficult to track how much time an employee spends working in each jurisdiction, and it can be even harder to ensure compliance with the different employment laws and ordinances for various jurisdictions. A recent article mentioned one small employer paid $15,000 for software to track each employees time spent in various cities.ii 3. Disruption to Business: For a very small business, such as one that has less than 10 employees, it can completely disrupt the work flow if a key employee is suddenly gone for several weeks of medical leave (i.e. after having a heart attack). Who will do that employees work while he/she is gone? The smaller the employer, the fewer other employees there are to shoulder the burden. The business could lose clients if services are delayed, or could face financial penalties if goods are not made or delivered on time. Your Assignment: Consider your personal experience as an employee, and if you have not been a small business owner or manager, please also place yourself in the shoes of the following small business manager: You are the manager of a small flower shop in Eagan, MN. The company has 5 employees, including 3 florists who fulfill orders (including you), and 2 delivery drivers. The shop currently delivers to customers in a 50-mile radius from the Eagan store, including to the cities of Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Hudson, Wisconsin. The store currently only offers 40 hours of paid time off per year, and does not provide designated maternity leave, medical leave or other leaves specifically for caring for family members. Using your personal experience, what you have learned so far in this class, and your reflections in the role of the floral shop manager above: Do you think its fair that small employers are often not required to provide family medical leave, maternity/paternity leave, or paid sick leave? Why do you feel this way? Should laws be expanded to protect employees at all sizes of employers? Should employees be required to do anything (what?) to minimize the impact to their employers? Why/why not? What strategies can small businesses implement to overcome the three types of challenges mentioned in the Background section above? Do you have any other ideas or solutions for how society can balance the needs of employees and small businesses? Discuss these questions in a 2-3 page reflection paper. Please use 11- or 12-point font, double-spaced, and 1-inch margins. The only source material you need is your textbook and the information posted in D2L; no additional research is required. The purpose of this assignment is to encourage you to reflect on these issues from both sides of the employment relationship. i If you are curious about the Minneapolis sick leave ordinance, see https://sicktimeinfo.minneapolismn.gov/ for more information. However, you are not required to know all the details of the ordinance for this assignment. ii You are not required to read the full article for this assignment, but if you are curious, it is available here: https://www.inc.com/associated-press/paid-sick-leave-great-for-employees-business-owners-struggle.html.
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