The Family Medical Leave Act and Workers' Comp Rules Are a Pain, Small Businesses Say, But They're Worth It

Alexandria, Va. (June 1, 2007) — The Family Medical Leave Act and workers' compensation are two of the hardest workplace regulations for employers to comply with, but they're the two most helpful to workers, say small businesses in a recent survey.

Workers' comp provides medical care and compensation for injured workers without them having to sue their employers, and the businesses named it the single toughest employment law to follow.

The controversial medical leave act lets employees take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave a year for family or medical emergencies. Business lobbyists want to curtail it; unions to expand it.

About half the companies favor restricting the law, while the other half want to leave it unchanged or even expand it.

The National Association of Professional Employer Organizations, or NAPEO, surveyed 429 small businesses across the nation in May.

These businesses told the trade association that employment regulations are proliferating. Some managers are spending over a third more time on compliance than a decade ago.

A more complex portrait emerges from the survey, however, than the usual business complaints about government regulations. These small-business people recognize the importance of these rules but chafe under their increasing complexity.

"We have no argument with regulations that keep workers healthier and safer," said Milan P. Yager, executive vice president of NAPEO. "We just want legislators and regulators to ask themselves: Do these rules always have to be so complex?"

Small businesses, with fewer resources than large ones, find it tougher to comply with the blizzard of workplace regulations in the last few decades.

Professional employer organizations shoulder complicated, unprofitable human resources chores for small businesses, such as doing payroll, paying employment taxes and providing employee benefits. This lets owners focus on growing and making a profit. PEOs can also guide small businesses through the thicket of workplace regulations and help them comply.

Among the survey's other findings: Only a few companies in the May survey said raising the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour will hurt their businesses.

Courtesy of NAPEO

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