Roughly 34,000 Minnesotans have taken advantage of the state’s new paid family and medical leave law since its rollout in January. Some lawmakers, though, remain concerned the law’s new benefits may hurt Minnesota small businesses.
State Rep. Kristin Robbins, R-Maple Grove, a candidate for governor, is carrying a trio of bills to add limits to the law, including an opt-out for small businesses.
Robbins joined Morning Edition host Cathy Wurzer on Wednesday to explain why she believes more restrictions and oversight on paid leave are needed.
The paid leave benefit is funded by a payroll tax shared between employers and employees; small businesses are taxed at a slightly lower rate.
“It's the tax, but it's also just a flexibility to figure out how to solve these problems when people take leave, and small businesses have, for generations, figured out ways to work with their employees to figure it out, to make sure people get time off they need,” Robbins said.
Delaware, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Rhode Island and Maine have the option of a small business exemption to their respective paid leave laws, Robbins said.
“One-size-fits-all across every sector, across every type of business, just hasn't worked, and we need to give that flexibility to our small businesses and farms,” she added.
Robbins also chairs the House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee. She’s believes the paid leave program lacks oversight and the current law language is vague.
“When the leave is for caregiving, that's when the definitions are incredibly broad,” she said.
“There's no one checking, well, if you're taking leave to provide care for someone for mental health support, what does that mean?” she added. “Do you take him to the movies? Do you just check in by text and say, ‘How's your day?’ There's no guardrails on it at all.”
Robbins is also pushing for a 50-50 funding split for state lawmakers and legislative employees.
Listen to the full conversation by clicking the player button above.