Crains New York - October 29, 2012 - (Page 10)

OPINION T A bad prescription for biz pay mandate as their model, and that the Bay Area legislation applies to all companies, no matter how small. If the New York bill were passed over a Bloomberg veto, these and other expansions of the law could become goals of a future mayor looking to burnish his progressive credentials. Questions remain about how the mandate would play out here. Wage laws are typically enforced by departments of labor, but the city has no such agency. Instead, enforcement would fall to the Department of Health, the bane of many businesses. (The bill has little to do with health; one need not even be sick to take a “sick day.”) Workers don’t have to provide proof of illness until the fourth straight day missed, making malingering easy. Failure to provide advance notice can’t be punished. So a restaurant’s five waiters could call in sick one minute before their shift starts, three days in a row, with not so much as a doctor’s note. And if the restaurateur refused to pay them, he would be liable for treble damages or $500 per worker (whichever is greater), plus a fine of up to $3,000. Firing them would cost him back pay and a $5,000 penalty. We can already hear the lawyers licking their chops. CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS editor in chief Rance Crain publisher, vp Jill R. Kaplan EDITORIAL editor Glenn Coleman managing editor Jeremy Smerd deputy managing editors Valerie Block, Erik Ipsen assistant managing editor Erik Engquist senior producer, news Elisabeth Butler Cordova news producer Lauren Elkies contributing editor Elaine Pofeldt columnists Greg David, Alair Townsend crain’s health pulse editor Barbara Benson senior reporters Theresa Agovino, Aaron Elstein, Lisa Fickenscher, Matthew Flamm reporters Chris Bragg, Amanda Fung, Daniel Geiger, Andrew J. Hawkins, Adrianne Pasquarelli web reporter, producer Tania Karas art director Steven Krupinski deputy art director Carolyn McClain staff photographer Buck Ennis copy desk chief Steve Noveck copy editor Thaddeus Rutkowski data editor Suzanne Panara assistant data editor Emily Laermer researchers Eva Saviano, Amy Stern interns Ali Elkin, Emily Lundeen ONLINE AND INTERACTIVE SERVICES senior web developer, interactive Chris O’Donnell ADVERTISING, MARKETING AND PRODUCTION advertising director Trish Henry senior account managers Irene Bar-Am, Courtney McCombs, Suzanne Wilson account executive Jill Bottomley Kunkes sales coordinator Danielle Wiener newsletter product manager Alexis Sinclair credit Todd J. Masura (313-446-6097) director, audience development Michael O’Connor senior marketing manager Catherine Schutten event producer Courtney Williams reprint sales manager Lauren Melesio production and pre-press director Michael Corsi advertising production manager Suzanne Fleischman Wies TO SUBSCRIBE: For print and digital subscriptions or customer service, e-mail customerservice@crainsnewyork.com or call 877-824-9379 (in the U.S. and Canada) or 313-446-0450 (all other locations). $3.00 a copy for the print edition; or $99.95 one year, $179.95 two years, for print subscriptions with digital access. www.crainsnewyork.com/subscribe TO ADVERTISE: Contact Advertising Director Trish Henry at thenry@crainsnewyork.com or call 212-210-0711. www.crainsnewyork.com/advertise FOR INFORMATION ON OUR EVENTS: Contact Event Producer Courtney Williams at cwilliams@crainsnewyork.com or 212-210-0257. www.crainsnewyork.com/events TO CONTACT THE NEWSROOM: he City Council is reconsidering a meddlesome bill that would require employers to provide paid sick days. Stalled for two years, the measure has been revived by amendments designed to make it palatable to the business community’s primary defender in the council, Speaker Christine Quinn. Gone is a provision punishing companies with 20 or more employees by making them provide nine paid sick days per year, up from five days for those with five to 19 workers. (A smaller business would have to provide five unpaid days off.) Seasonal employees were carved out by requiring 120 days of work before time off kicks in. The window for employees to file complaints was cut to 18 months. The changes have not won over business leaders or Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who view the bill as government micromanaging of the private sector. Although Ms. Quinn has not allowed a vote on the amended bill, she did schedule a hearing, which was later postponed to Nov. 15. More tweaks are being made. These facts are disquieting to the business world because once the paid-sick-days folks get their left foot in the door, they will keep pushing until it’s unhinged. We know that bill supporters, led by the Working Families Party, don’t think five days is enough. That’s why their original measure required larger businesses to provide nine days off. We know that they view San Francisco’s sick- Once sick-pay backers get a foot in the door, they’ll unhinge it CRAIN’S ONLINE POLL COMMENTS Hello, Islanders HOCKEY TEAM TO DECAMP FOR BROOKLYN Long Island. —donald levine Should Nassau County taxpayers be faulted for not wanting to be hit with a $400 million bill for financing someone’s private enterprise? Did Nassau County take up New York Islanders owner Charles Wang on his “offer” to pay the $2.2 million it cost to run the arena referendum that politicians tried to shove down the throats of local residents— or was that yet another cost the taxpayers had to absorb? —jonas marcum Very shortsighted on the part of Nassau County residents. This will hurt Long Island for many years to come. —frank troiano Have no fear, all of you who voted no to the arena deal. The Islanders are gone, for all practical purposes, and so is all the economic benefit that went with them, and we will all pay SHOULD HILLARY CLINTON OR ANDREW CUOMO RUN FOR PRESIDENT IN 2016? Hillary Clinton Andrew Cuomo Both of them Neither Date of poll: Oct. 22 239 votes 17% 32% 22% Long ago, Brooklyn lost the Dodgers, and if I recall it correctly, one of the same parcels of land that Barclays Center now sits on was under consideration as a new home for the Dodgers. That never got done, and it broke the heart of Brooklyn at the time. If it was the same land or not, I am just glad that presentday leaders had the vision and determination to get this done for our city. This is a day to celebrate all of our city leaders who supported this. It’s great for the entire state, and I’m sure Nassau County will find a wonderful use for the space vacated. I cannot wait for a Subway Series of hockey! —ray casey What’s the big deal? It’s a great move, and guess what— the last time I looked on a map, Brooklyn (and Queens, for that matter) was still on more because of it, way more than we would have paid for the building. No Islanders means that that “dump” of an arena will be empty, which means a loss of jobs and tax revenue. And who will be hit with it? We will. This is just like the failed school budgets: You have to pay to have something nice. Republicans and Democrats in Nassau County are both to be blamed. Oh, well … maybe Hofstra University will buy the property. —vince apple Do you really think Islanders fans from Suffolk County and eastern Nassau County are going to be driving to Brooklyn to games? The arena will sell out to whom? Rangers fans? Yes, when the Rangers and Islanders play each other! What a disaster for Nassau County—how foolish to have let it come to this. —james 711 Third Ave., New York, NY 10017-4036 editorial phone: 212.210.0277 fax 212.210.0799 Entire contents ©copyright 2012 Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved. ®CityBusiness is a registered trademark of MCP Inc., used under license agreement. PUBLISHED BY CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC. chairman Keith E. Crain president Rance Crain secretary Merrilee Crain treasurer Mary Kay Crain executive vp, operations William Morrow senior vp, group publisher Gloria Scoby group vp, technology, circulation, manufacturing Robert C. Adams vp/production, manufacturing David Kamis chief information officer Paul Dalpiaz founder G.D. Crain Jr. (1885-1973) chairman Mrs. G.D. Crain Jr. (1911-1996) 29% FOR THIS WEEK’S QUESTIONS: Go to www.crainsnewyork.com/poll to have your say. CRAIN’S WELCOMES SUBMISSIONS to its opinion pages. Send letters to letters@crainsnewyork.com. Send columns of 475 words or fewer to opinion@crainsnewyork.com. Please include the writer’s name, company, address and telephone number. 10 | Crain’s New York Business | October 29, 2012 http://www.crainsnewyork.com/subscribe http://www.crainsnewyork.com/advertise http://www.crainsnewyork.com/events http://www.crainsnewyork.com/poll

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - October 29, 2012

IN THE BOROUGHS
IN THE MARKETS
THE INSIDER
BUSINESS PEOPLE
OPINION
ALAIR TOWNSEND
GREG DAVID
REAL ESTATE DEALS
REPORT: BUSINESS OF LAW
THE LIST
CLASSIFIEDS
SMALL BUSINESS
FOR THE RECORD
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
SOURCE LUNCH
OUT AND ABOUT
SNAPS

Crains New York - October 29, 2012