The Albany County Paid Sick Leave Law

In March of 2018, Albany County Legislator Alison McLean Lane introduced Local Law C, known as the Albany County Paid Sick Leave Law.[1]The Legislature recently held its third public hearing on the law, amendments have been made to exclude perpetrators of domestic violence, and a 2019 passage date has been discussed. If passed, Albany County would become the fifth local government in the nation to pass such a law.[2]

The proposed law mandates that employers provide paid sick leave to full-time and part-time employees. Employees would earn the sick days at a rate of one hour for every 30 hours worked. Employers with under 5 employees, and nonprofits with fewer than 200 workers under a single contract, could provide unpaid sick days. Federal, state, and local governments other than the County of Albany are exempt.The County will enforce the law, and if compliance is not achieved, the business owner can be sued.

It's hard for me to consider the merits of the law primarily because I got fixated on the language surrounding its original introduction. A bit of a compulsion on my part from years of representing legislative bodies, but I always want to know where the numbers come from. The legislative intent section of the law provides, “The Legislature finds that 40% of workers in Albany County lack access to paid sick time.” This number became gospel and was quoted in any news piece on Local Law C. That’s where I got stuck. Where did this number come from? Does it include high school students or college students working part time jobs in summer?  What about seasonal employees? Do any of these workers receive benefits that are similar, but technically not called sick leave so that they fall into the percentage? When was the study done, and are the numbers still good? More importantly, since the largest employers in Albany County are the government – federal, state, and municipal – and large hospitals, how were those institutions represented in the study?

Citizen Action, the lead lobbying group in support of the issue, provided the 40% number. It originated from an Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) 2014 study. The IWPR is a Washington, D.C. based organization with a strong statement of research independence on its webpage. This 2014 study of Albany County was based on an analysis of government data sources which included the 2010-12 American Community Survey and the 2010-12 National Health Interview Survey. An additional study was done by the county executive to determine how much it will cost the county to implement and enforce the new law. No separate study has been undertaken to determine the financial impact on Albany County businesses, although Legislator Bullock has determined, “They can afford it, they make enough money,”[3]and I have to assume that he bases that comment on personal experience or studies he may have reviewed.

I’m not alone in my concern over numbers, the same Legislator, Doug Bullock, expressed “dismay at what he described as employers ‘inflating and exaggerating’ the costs associated with paid sick leave.”[4]Most people do have a natural curiosity about the information they have to rely on to make a decision. We don’t want our legislators to make important decisions based on emotion or affinity to a viewpoint, but hope they are making decisions after careful study and consideration. Public hearings are good vehicles to help legislators gauge public sentiment, which is important, but often lack necessary study and analysis. There is also a top down mentality. The legislature determines what is good for the residents and businesses and then offers its almost-finished product to the public for comment.

In the rush to be one of the first in the nation to adopt paid sick leave, the Albany County Legislature has frankly put the cart before the horse. It sounds like there are interested parties both for and against, with ideas or research that could have helped craft a law that worked well who now have to resort to campaign contributions to have their voice heard.[5]The legislature has a huge staff and yet no one has seen any documents or background research on how this would work in Albany, what the true cost to employers would be, how many employees are truly affected and whether we are reaching the employees who need help the most and not a high school student on summer break making money to go to a SPAC concert. I’m not sure anyone even has a good understanding of how this will affect unionized employees.[6]Albany has labored under the assumption that if something works anywhere in the nation, it will work here in the same way. What works in NYC, may not make as much sense in Albany, New York. Heck, what works in Schenectady may not even work well in Albany. Every place is unique.

We have Local Law C now and an attitude that the Legislature should just pass it and then see how it works.[7]There is no room here for facts, research, the law, or even bringing the interested parties to the drawing table. And so goes the descent into a dull torpor. I would love to be proven wrong. I would love to find a previously released study on any of this that was undertaken in Albany County. I would love to see a legal memorandum outlining the issues of preemption and why it makes the most sense to do this on a county level. I would love to see an analysis of who exactly is affected or why are large employers are not offering any sick leave options if that is the case.

In what makes too much common sense for government, this type of issue is best left for state government to tackle so that every county is on the same playing field. This law will put Albany County at a competitive disadvantage when attracting new business and maintaining our existing. True, if we wait for the state to act, this will take longer and will not happen in 2019. But I would rather see our legislators using their connections and friendships at the state level to lobby for change statewide instead of “if we pass it, they will too.” Sometimes the mere passage of time helps to flush out problems and bring new solutions to light.

I am not necessarily against this legislation. I want to see the people who need the help get the help. I want to understand how we can better lift people out of poverty. I want to understand what existing programs the county has to help people for whom one illness can mean homelessness and how we can build support networks for those people. We have people falling through the cracks, and it is easy to attack someone who doesn’t support this as uncaring. But are we putting a band aid on a broken leg and sending the patient home?

Let’s hope our county legislators can do the homework, look at the big picture, and find a solution that truly helps those in need.

[1]Franco, Jim. (2018, March 20). Law would force Albany County businesses to pay all employees sick time. Spotlight News.Retrieved from URL. The main sponsor is now listed as Legislator Douglas Bullock. Co-sponsors include A. Joyce, Cunningham, Fein, Reinhardt, Higgins, Lekakis.

[2]Albany County paid sick leave is different than the paid family leave program enacted by the State Legislature last year and the federal Family Medical Leave Act. The federal FMLA provides for unpaid leave for employees to bond with a new child, care for a sick relative or help when family members who are deployed on active military service. The New York act provides for paid leave through a deduction taken from the employee’s paycheck.

[3] Fries, Amanda. (2018, September 13). Paid sick days proposal in Albany County gets revisions, another public airing. Times Union.Retrieved from URL.

[4]Fries, Amanda. (2019, May 30). County legislators get chamber donations amid paid sick leave debate. Times Union. Retrieved from URL.

[5]Fries. (2019, May 30). County legislators get chamber donations amid paid sick leave debate.

[6]Michael J. Soltis, Esq. writes, “The proposed law also shortchanges union-represented employees through what I call the “comparable benefit fiction,” which allows an employer and union to deny bargaining unit employees all of the benefits and protections of the PSL law by including in their agreement a “comparable benefit.” One of the listed examples of a comparable benefit” is “holiday and Sunday time pay at a premium rate.” That premium time on holidays and Sunday is not comparable to paid sick leave is self-evident. Beyond that, the law does not define “premium rate”; does not require that an employee ever be offered the opportunity to earn that premium; and does not even require that the employer be open for business on a holiday or Sunday.”(2018, October 26). Paid sick leave on its way to Albany County. Disability Management Employer Coalition. Retrieved from URL.

[7]Young, Liz. (2019, February 5). Cost to come soon for Albany County paid sick leave proposal. Albany Business Review.

1.