If you haven’t heard, employment law has gone crazy. Employers are being bombarded with new requirements, costs and liability. You’ve heard of “mission-creep,” where a country sends in a few military advisors and, next thing you know, it’s fighting a war? Well, this is “obligation-creep.” Everybody in a position of power, from the president on down to local governments, is creating new obligations for employers.
The D.C. City Council has proposed a massively burdensome new law that provides four months of paid leave for each employee. D.C.’s new Universal Paid Leave Act of 2015, if enacted, requires businesses to provide each employee with paid leave for 16 weeks. Employees will qualify for this new leave if they are ill, bonding with a newborn or adopted child, taking care of an ill family member or unable to work for other reasons. These are all understandable reasons to be absent from work.
