Almost Half of Small Business Owners Would Support Mandatory Paid Time Off

A new study from Paychex estimated that 48 percent of 257 surveyed U.S. employers who employ between two and 500 employees said they would, to some degree, support legislation requiring paid leave, with millennials making up 71 percent of respondents, reports the Washington Post . Several U.S. states and numerous cities and jurisdictions already require some form of mandatory paid leave, while the president has supported paid time off for new parents and included the proposal as part of his most recent budget. In addition, the new tax reform bill that passed in December has a provision giving employers up to a 25 percent tax credit on wages voluntarily paid to employees under the Family and Medical Leave Act. However, Paychex determined 35 percent of small business owners "lack strong feelings" about mandatory paid time off, because mainly larger companies are fully in support of some type of legislation. "Whether it's having a key member of a small team out of the office for an extended period of time or the back-end administration of such a program, mandatory paid leave will introduce new dynamics small business owners will have to navigate," says Paychex CEO Martin Mucci. How such a measure would be underwritten is the biggest challenge, with 43 percent of business owners saying the federal government should pay, versus 40 percent saying funding should be employers' responsibility.