House Rejects Seasonal Clause For Paid Sick Leave Legislation

OCEAN CITY — The Maryland House of Delegates late last week approved a bill requiring businesses to provide paid sick leave to most employees, but an amendment so critical to resort businesses to increase the threshold for eligibility to 120 days did not make it through on the final version.

The Maryland Healthy Working Families Act, cross-filed in both the House and Senate, would require a business with over 14 employees to provide a policy under which an employee earns at least one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours he or she works. Under the current language, the paid sick leave bill would make eligible all employees who work at least 90 days for an employer, which would encompass thousands of seasonal workers in Ocean City, for example.

The House last week passed its version of the bill with an 88-57 vote after rejecting all amendments proposed to make the legislation more palatable for seasonal small businesses. Delegate Mary Beth Carozza (R-38C), who represents Ocean City and the Lower Shore, proposed an amendment that would expand the eligibility requirement to 120 days, which would have insulated many resort businesses from the rather onerous paid sick leave requirements for countless seasonal workers.

However, that amendment, like many others proposed, was rejected by the House. The bill is now in the Senate and the hope is, at least locally, that Senator Jim Mathias (D-38) and others will be able to attach a similar amendment. During testimony on the bill in the House last week, Carozza called on her colleagues to include her 120-day exemption amendment.

“Last year, I stood before you and offered this same amendment which exempts seasonal employees who work 120 days or less in a month,” she said. “I’m hopeful that it would be accepted as a friendly amendment. The end result of this common sense amendment is that it protects the jobs of seasonal, student and first-time workers across the state of Maryland. I know a little something about the importance of seasonal workers as I grew up in a family business. Our family owned and ran the first fast-food drive-through restaurant in Ocean City called Beefy’s on 17th Street, and I think some of you may have even spent a few bucks there. Over the years, my parents hired hundreds of students to work in our family business and, in many cases, these were first jobs for these young people. Now with this bill, we’re putting these types of Mom and Pop operations and businesses across the state in jeopardy unless we include this 120-day seasonal employee exemption.”

During the hearing on the paid sick leave bill last week, Carozza read into the record correspondence from the owners of the Francis Scott Key Hotel and Resort in West Ocean City about the potential impact of the legislation on the family-owned business.

“We have no issue with providing paid sick leave,” the Francis Scott Key letter reads. “We have been providing it for our full-time staff members for over 10 years. We go from 25 full-time staff members to 125 in the summer. By requiring us to give all staff members accrued sick leave, we would be giving over 100 seasonal staff members the equivalent of two days off. As you can imagine, we could end up at the end of the summer when we need our staff the most with 200 days off.”

The letter goes on to say providing its seasonal workforce with paid sick leave at a time of the season they are needed the most would limit their ability to operate, resulting in a diminished experience for its guests.

“The fact is, we could not operate if we had all of these call-offs in August,” the letter reads. “It would be a hospitality nightmare to have 20 or 30 staff members call in sick so they can use their sick time prior to leaving for the summer. The cost would be hard to swallow, over $15,000, but the inability to provide quality service to our guests would be devastating.”

In her floor speech, Carozza pointed out the proposed 120-day amendment was not a uniquely Ocean City issue or just about the summer season. She pointed out in Maryland there are openings of amusement parks, summer camps, state and county fairs and numerous festivals. She also pointed out the pre-Christmas retail season is likely the second highest time of the year for temporary, seasonal employment of hourly workers.

“A paid sick leave bill without the 120-day exemption discourages businesses from employing first-time student and seasonal workers due to the burdensome record-keeping, accounting and expense,” she said. “Let’s not make it harder for our small businesses and all employers to provide jobs for our students and seasonal workers across Maryland. Let’s pass this common sense amendment and then pass a paid sick leave bill that makes sense for both Maryland workers and employers.”

About The Author: Shawn Soper

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Shawn Soper has been with The Dispatch since 2000. He began as a staff writer covering various local government beats and general stories. His current positions include managing editor and sports editor. Growing up in Baltimore before moving to Ocean City full time three decades ago, Soper graduated from Loch Raven High School in 1981 and from Towson University in 1985 with degrees in mass communications with a journalism concentration and history.