Donna Welch, Let's Meat on the Avenue - Virginia
We’re just a handful of people at my butcher shop, so I work side by side with each of my staff members. For that reason, it’s important to me to build strong relationships with my employees. I want to show them the same care they show me by helping our business succeed. Recently, an experienced staff member required surgery for a chronic neck condition that was causing him pain and limiting his ability to work. Doctors replaced several vertebrae in his neck, and, after a successful surgery, they ordered him to rest completely to fully recuperate.
He’d been responsible and saved the paid time off I could afford to offer—about two or three weeks—and was able to follow his doctors’ orders for that time. But when the time he’d saved had been used, he returned to work, not wanting to lose out on income. I’m sure he’d have taken more time if he’d had it, and I’m equally sure he wouldn’t disobey his doctors’ advice without a strong reason. But reality meant he was back at work only a short time after this major surgery, doing the type of intensive, physical work that I imagine his doctors would have preferred that he avoided for a while longer.
Over half of FMLA requests for unpaid time off are to recover for personal medical reasons, but loss of income means many people can’t take their full recovery time. In addition, as a small employer of less than 50 employees - the job protection guarantees in the act do not even cover my employees. We’re a small enough shop that when someone takes time off it affects all of us. When a key staff member takes time away, it can be a challenge to keep the business running smoothly, but we all pitch in to make it work.
That said, the solutions we’ve come up with have their drawbacks. Other staff members pick up shifts, which I’m very thankful for. But that can mean paying overtime on top of the salary being paid to the employee on leave. A paid leave program would allow me to use the recovering employee’s salary to cover overtime for other staff, hire a temporary replacement or however I see fit in my business, while employees are still paid from the program. Right now, the lack of a paid leave system holds small businesses back and leaves people choosing between their well being and their paycheck. An affordable, universal paid leave system will let employers like me give our employees the benefits we want to be able to provide and free us to keep looking for new opportunities to create jobs and serve our communities.