{"id":37269,"date":"2025-02-04T16:57:19","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T22:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=37269"},"modified":"2025-02-04T20:12:56","modified_gmt":"2025-02-05T02:12:56","slug":"bill-would-limit-paid-sick-leave-implementation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=37269","title":{"rendered":"Bill would limit paid sick leave implementation"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Business and Labor Committee heard testimony Feb. 3 on a bill that seeks to narrow provisions of a ballot initiative passed by Nebraska voters last November that guarantees paid sick leave.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Sen. Paul Strommen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The successful ballot initiative provides eligible Nebraska employees the right to earn and use paid sick leave for family health needs based on the size of their employer \u2014 up to 40 hours annually for employers with fewer than 20 employees and 56 hours for businesses with more than 20 employees. It also establishes enforcement powers and a civil cause of action for violations.<\/p>\n

LB698, introduced by Sidney Sen. Paul Strommen, would exempt several groups from the new provisions, including temporary and seasonal agricultural employees, workers under age 16 and businesses with 10 or fewer employees.<\/p>\n

The bill also would remove protections for workers who face retaliation from their employer for using paid sick leave and the ability for employees to seek restitution for earned sick leave that was not granted.<\/p>\n

Strommen said the proposal is not an attempt to undermine the will of Nebraska voters, but rather an effort to shield small businesses from the unintended consequences of mandated paid sick leave.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sum of this bill is to ensure that both employees and employers in our most vulnerable small businesses in the state are not finding themselves in a position where they are going to have to start letting folks go,\u201d Strommen said.<\/p>\n

Ansley Fellers testified in support of the measure on behalf of several industry organizations, including the Nebraska Grocery Industry Association. She said passage of LB698 would indicate the Legislature’s willingness to balance the voice of voters at the ballot box with the concerns of the state\u2019s smallest employers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand why the voters think these new mandates are the right thing to do, but ballot initiatives cannot and do not account for differences between businesses \u2014 be it size, industry or location,\u201d Fellers said.<\/p>\n

David Barnes, speaking on behalf of Valley Foods Cooperative, also supported the proposal. He expressed concern that the additional costs associated with implementing paid sick leave for employees could result in increased prices for consumers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe consumer always pays for any government regulation,\u201d Barnes said.<\/p>\n

Craig Moody, co-sponsor of the paid sick leave ballot initiative, testified in opposition to LB698. Moody said his own small business has benefitted from implementing a paid sick leave policy. The team has become more productive and cohesive because they know they are supported, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t buy the narrative that this is going to hurt employers,\u201d Moody said. \u201cThe reality that I\u2019ve seen and experienced is that this is much better for our business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ken Smith, speaking on behalf of Nebraska Appleseed, also opposed the measure. Data collected from other states with similar policies indicates employment growth and minimal long-term costs to businesses, he said, which is part of the reason over 200 Nebraska employers supported the ballot initiative.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a well-worn path,\u201d Smith said. \u201cAnd when you walk down this path, there are economic and business benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n

The committee took no immediate action on LB698.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Business and Labor Committee heard testimony Feb. 3 on a bill that seeks to narrow provisions of a ballot initiative passed by Nebraska voters last November that guarantees paid sick leave.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37247,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[312],"class_list":["post-37269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-and-labor","tag-sen-paul-strommen"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/LB698Strommen2-3-25a.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37269"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37274,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37269\/revisions\/37274"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}