Yes Virginia (and California), Even Well Intended Regulation Increases Costs
Here’s a concrete example from the Coyote blog showing how seemingly innocuous state regulations can combine to discourage hiring.
Over time, California legislators have passed a variety of laws requiring employers to provide various types of paid and unpaid employee leave. The rules have to be given in an employee handbook. The business that compiled the list below had to hire an attorney to create it. It says that the list may be incomplete and that it is “published at the risk of having a California lawyer see it and say “aha! They have forgotten time off for the death of a beloved hamster. Let’s sue him.”
If asked, the author says his business would probably provide informal time off for most of the things listed. But because they are now legal requirements backed by the threat of expensive litigation if the company makes even the smallest mistake, he has to go to the irritation and expense of discovering the rules, tracking the leave, and keeping up with regulatory compliance.
With rules like these, no wonder employers don’t like having employees and are doing their best to minimize them.
- Family/medical leaves (including more restrictive California Family Medical Leave Act)
- Pregnancy disability leave
- Organ donor and bone marrow donor leave
- Military leave of absence
- Military spouse’s leave of absence
- Civil air patrol leave
- Drug/alcohol rehabilitation accommodation
- Time off for adult literacy programs
- Time off for required attendance at school of suspended pupil
- Time off for attending activities at child’s school or licensed day care facility
- Time off for duty as election official
- Time off for jury and witness duties
- Time off for victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking — obtaining relief for victim and children
- Time off for victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking —additional time for victim’s participation
- Time off for victim of certain felonies
- Time off to attend court proceedings for certain crimes
- Time off for volunteer firefighter, reserve peace officer or emergency rescue personnel duties
- Time off for volunteer firefighter, reserve peace officer or emergency rescue personnel training
- Time off for voting
- Workers’ compensation leave
These leaves don’t seem very outrageous, and it is likely that most employers would grant time off for such requests. Has a lack of granted time off for these things prompted more regulations?
Most, if not all, employees will fall into these categories at least once. These new regulations seem to create more fear for employers if they neglect to meet any requirement in providing leave for their employees.
While may discourage hiring more employees, it will encourage hiring more attorneys to inspect employee handbooks.
That’s not much in promoting job growth.
This is great news for organ donating, drug addicted, elected officials who are volunteer firefighters.
Unnecessary regulation, whether well intended or not, is not justifiable for the sake of regulating. Costs always increase as laws and regulations increase.
It is only justifiable if employers are denying employees with leaves of absence for pregnancy or illness. Costs can be justified if they increase for the employer but it is to the benefit of the employee.
Leave for learning to read (Number 8) obviously increases costs for employer while benefiting the employee. Given the criteria you state, you apparently think that requiring employers to give people time off to learn to read for a job that doesn’t require it is a good idea.
If there is nothing wrong with requiring employers to spend their money to benefit others, why not require that they provide leave for people who want to attend college? Given that, why even have K-12? Just require the employers to do it.
In other places, employees who are illiterate learn to read on their own time.
It sort of looks like people in California aren’t required to work under a variety of conditions! It’s a miracle they get anything done there!
Especially when they have perfect weather and everyone has legal pot. I don’t think people in California work at all!
When you’re growing weed in your spare bedroom and selling it to your friends, maybe you don’t have to work.
California silliness like this is the reason why I earned double the hourly wage of the captive employee when I worked as an “unbenefitted” contractor on a 1099 or independently.
Clearly, no unencumbered single, childfree, young male would ever work as an employee if he has any sense.