Small-business owners complained Friday that the city’s expansion of a paid-sick-leave law is going to affect their bottom line.
A bill supported by Mayor de Blasio would require businesses with as few as five employees to provide five paid sick days a year starting April 1. A previous bill enacted into law during the Bloomberg administration covered employers with 20 or more workers.
“It’s not geared toward people with a work ethic. It’s for people who want another paid day off,” Steve Margarella, owner of Margarella Asphalt & Concrete on Staten Island, told a City Council hearing Friday, estimating he’ll lose as much as $700 a day for each employee who calls in sick.
Staten Island massage therapist Doreen Zayer said her business would also lose money under the revised bill, which is expected to pass later this month.
“I don’t think it’s fair that the business should take a loss while the employee is home getting paid,” she told legislators.
But Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said it isn’t fair for workers to go without pay if they’re sick.
“People should not have to choose between their health and their jobs,” she said.