Letter to Congress: Small Businesses Urge Action on Permanent Paid Leave
Speaker Nancy Pelosi Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
U.S. House of Representatives U.S. Senate
H-232, The Capitol 217 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C.20515 Washington, D.C. 20510
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy
U.S. Senate U.S. House of Representatives
322 Hart Senate Office Building 2468 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510 Washington, D.C. 20515
Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader McConnell, Majority Leader Schumer, and Minority Leader McCarthy:
We applaud the passage of the American Rescue Plan - a program of a scale and substance needed to address many of the urgent needs facing small business owners, our employees and customers.
Centering small business support in grant programs for those industries most impacted by the pandemic, and providing additional resources and programs to ensure very small and under-banked businesses are able to access those programs is critical to the many businesses still facing closure and significant debt.
The extension and expansion of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) tax credits continues another critical relief lifeline for small businesses -- allowing them to more easily make decisions that align public and economic health.
We look forward to working with the administration and our elected leaders across the country to ensure our business owners learn about the expanding menu of supports available and connect them with the technical assistance they need to successfully access those programs.
The pandemic exposed significant structural gaps in critical infrastructure for small business that we must also address. We are writing today, as the representatives of small business organizations and community organizations with scores of small business owner members, to urge that passing and establishing once and for all a permanent, comprehensive, sustainable paid leave program be a priority for the 117th Congress.
We are encouraged by the scale and broad focus of the infrastructure programs included in the American Jobs & Families Plans the Biden administration has and will announce.
Paid leave is an essential component to ensuring more small businesses are able to make it back to profitability and to leveling the playing field for small businesses in the long run. We must never be unprepared for a crisis like this again.
Small business owners overwhelmingly supported national paid leave even before the pandemic and as critical COVID relief during the outbreak for numerous reasons:
More than ever, small businesses and their employees need a program that allows owners and workers to take time from work for health reasons – whether to care for themselves and/or their loved ones or to quarantine or isolate and avoid spreading COVID-19. Multiple studies point to the public health benefits of paid sick time protections when it comes to combating contagious diseases. Most recently, a study of the Families First Coronavirus Relief Act documented that it prevented more than 15,000 COVID-19 infections each day.
Small businesses can’t afford paid leave on their own like many larger businesses can. Small businesses generally lack the capital and the scale to provide paid leave, even when owners want to provide that benefit. Moreover, private insurers generally do not offer affordable, adequate paid leave policies to small businesses. As a result, as of 2019 only 14 percent of workers in firms with 99 or fewer employees had access to employer-provided paid family leave, compared to 29 percent of workers in firms with 500 or more employees.
Our businesses benefit when employees can take time to care for their families and return ready to work. Paid leave helps reduce turnover and boost employee morale and loyalty, increasing productivity and cost savings for our small businesses. These benefits can be substantial - a recent study found companies with paid leave programs averaged increases of 4.6 percent in revenue and 6.8 percent in profit on a full-time equivalent (FTE) basis. Paid leave makes good business sense.
Paid Leave is a matter of racial and gender equity. The racial wealth gap means employees and business owners of color have less of a financial cushion for taking time off, but they also have more limited access to paid leave. And, with most caregiving still falling to women, paid leave is an important gender equity measure for business owners and employees alike. These facts have been further heightened during the pandemic. With higher rates of COVID-related illnesses, death, and business closures, the need for paid leave is higher than ever in Black and brown communities. A robust, permanent paid family and medical leave program is essential for supporting Black- and brown-owned businesses, their employees, and the communities they serve.
Economic Recovery on Main Street. For small businesses and Main Street economies to recover, we need more customers spending on Main Street and the safe return of our labor force. Comprehensive paid family and medical leave programs have been shown to significantly increase mothers’ attachment to the workforce and caregivers’ participation in the labor both short and long-term. Paid leave dollars go back into the local economy, boosting consumer demand at small businesses, as working people spend their leave to cover basics. Paid leave and care policies have the potential to help the economy grow as much as 5 percent by bringing women’s labor force participation rates in the United States up to levels in other countries.
Business owners support national paid leave. A national survey of 600 small business owners found that two-thirds supported the U.S. having a national policy for paid family and medical leave. Support for paid leave by the owners is also not a partisan issue, with 80% of Democrats, 55% of Republican, and 53% of Independent owners in favor of a national policy for paid family and medical leave. Over 1,600 small business owners have added their names to state and federal campaigns calling for comprehensive paid leave like the Family Act.
In order to successfully overcome the COVID-19 crisis and thrive in the future, small businesses need a comprehensive, sustainable, and affordable paid leave foundation now more than ever. As Congress considers a long-term economic infrastructure and recovery package, a national, permanent paid leave policy and program must be a priority. Paid leave is not just what small business employees deserve, it is vital to keeping our entire communities safe and our economy resilient.
Sincerely,
American Sustainable Business Council
FamilyValues@Work
Institute for Local Self Reliance
Main Street Alliance
MomsRising
National LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce
PL+US
Small Business Majority