Governor, DLLR want to hear from Marylanders about paid leave

(June 14, 2017—ANNAPOLIS, Md.) Do you get paid leave at work? The state wants to know.

As part of Gov. Larry Hogan’s May 25 executive order, the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, led by Sec. Kelly Schulz, has opened an eight-question survey to help shape policy on paid leave.

This comes as a direct result of the governor’s veto of House Bill 1, the mandatory paid leave bill that would have required all employers with as few as 15 employees to provide up to five days of paid time off each year for those who work an average of 12 hours per week or more.

“We still believe it’s best for employers to determine what benefits they can afford to provide,” said Maryland Chamber of Commerce President & CEO Christine Ross. “But we also want people to be healthy and to keep their jobs. We’re more than happy to help DLLR understand the impacts of mandatory paid leave and find a workable approach.”

Hogan’s executive order required the formation of a field study to help determine an approach that would be healthier for employers. The governor had proposed his own bill which, among other differences from HB 1 and its crossfiled bill, Senate Bill 230, pushed the minimum number of employees to 50 instead of 15. He plans to introduce emergency legislation at the beginning of the 2018 legislative session to address paid leave.

You can take the DLLR survey here.