Last November, voters approved an initiative petition requiring all employers to provide paid sick leave. The language of the initiative presented many compliance issues for employers. To remedy these compliance difficulties, Lincoln Senator Beau Ballard introduced LB415. First-round debate on this legislation began on Thursday, March 20. Debate is scheduled to continue on Tuesday, March 25.
LB415 represents a reasonable compromise to clean-up the recent paid sick leave initiative. It clarifies the initiative to give predictability and certainty to employers and employees alike. For example, LB415 would allow current flexible "paid time off" (PTO) policies to remain in place, rather than being disrupted by the initiative. It also gives clarity to whether the initiative applies to independent contractors, and as amended would ease the burden for small businesses.
We need your help contacting senators to urge their green vote on LB415! Between now and Tuesday morning, please personally contact your State Senator and request their support on LB415. We've provided some general guidelines you can rework in crafting your message. Please contact htraynor@nechamber.com with any questions you may have.
- Many employers are meeting the requirements of the Initiative under combined PTO policies; many employees prefer these policies because they’re flexible
- Ambiguities in the Initiative language would likely lead to bifurcation of PTO programs: one bucket for sick, one bucket for vacation
- Additionally, because of ambiguity in the provisions dealing with carry-over and annual caps, the fear for employees is that the floor required by the Initiative (40 hours for small businesses, 56 hours for large businesses) would become the ceiling. Less flexibility for paid sick time.
- This potential unintended consequence is that Nebraskans who had more sick time prior to the Initiative could now end up with less
- Independent contractors are traditionally exempt from many employment statutes, in many cases due to compliance difficulties
- This is not just an issue for employers, but everyday Nebraskans as well: how do service providers who are independent contractors accrue leave for the various clients they work for? Babysitters? Lawn care providers?
- The bill reiterates longstanding Nebraska Supreme Court precedent regarding the payout differences between sick leave and vacation time
- LB 415 includes essential language that clarifies how the rate-of-pay is calculated for employees who are paid by commission, by mileage, etc. Not passing the bill this year will create tremendous uncertainty for many industries with atypical compensation structures.
- LB 415 has widespread support from employers across industries and across the state, of all sizes. Failing to pass LB 415 will almost certainly lead to employers scrambling to rewrite PTO programs to comply with the initiative, reducing flexibility for employees and driving up compliance costs.