Paid Sick Leave Run Amok

Now that the paid sick leave wave has hit San Antonio and Dallas, outside the confines of the People's Republic of Austin where such efforts don't surprise us, it's time to examine who is driving (and more importantly, who is funding) efforts to attempt to require all employers to offer paid sick leave, regardless of business type or size. 

There are a couple of groups at play here: the Texas Workers Defense Project (focused on construction jobs), and Working Texans for Paid Sick Time who claim to be "a broad coalition of Texas-based community and labor organizations who are working together to win paid sick policies in Texas." So who are these Working Texans for Paid Sick Time folks that have been so busy collecting petitions to get these measures considered? As we examined the regulations we noted an exemption for unionized companies, so there's our first clue. 

Assuming a union is involved, it's relatively easy to see the play here:

• The union, who has funded the regulation adoption campaign including signature collection, etc., ensures a carve-out for all "union" businesses.
• A city council adopts oppressive regulations on all businesses in exchange for generous future campaign contributions from said union and without regard for the economic impact to its businesses (similar to the Bill White efforts here in Houston).
• Once the measures are passed, the union approaches businesses to convince them that unionization is cheaper in the long haul than paying paid sick leave, the goal being to "encourage" businesses to become union. 

I don't want to name names here, but the service industries would be the low hanging fruit for those unions. And, since unions by and large are failing miserably at attracting members these days, they may be trying the new tactic to make unionization more attractive.  

It seems reasonable to expect that the same type of effort may be underway in Houston as well. Thankfully, according to the Texas Monitor, the Texas Public Policy Foundation, supported by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, has filed a lawsuit against the City of Austin, citing the unconstitutionality of the ordinance. Their premise is the exemption created by the council for unionized companies violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

If the lawsuit doesn't put an end to the efforts, here's hoping the state legislature fixes it in the spring. Employee benefits are always driven by the market and these types of regulations only prove to increase the cost of doing business for everyone. Texas needs to maintain an environment that attracts new businesses, not scares them away with over-regulation brought on by special interests. Texas is not California. #tb