Don't shut the truth out of sick-leave debate

Lately, it seems, there is always a new controversy that pits the Madison business community against certain progressive forces.

Whether it's the local minimum wage or the smoking-ban ordinance, many of these debates have seemed almost cartoonish, with both sides being starkly drawn and the rhetoric overblown. It would not be unreasonable to wonder if these debates weren't in some way contrived.

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The latest issue to arise is a proposal to require all employers to offer paid sick leave to their employees, and you can already hear the rising voices on both extremes: Charges that Madison is "anti-business" are being met with charges that "the business community" is not concerned with their employees' health.

If this discussion over the proposed sick-leave ordinance is going to be honest, then both sides need to acknowledge a couple of truths.

Proponents of the measure should acknowledge that by pursuing progressive improvements through a local ordinance, they are asking small, local businesses to carry a much heavier load than their larger, non-local competitors.

After all, the local independent coffee shop that has just one store would feel a much greater impact than Starbucks, with thousands of locations outside of Madison.

On the other hand, the business community should remember that Madison is a progressive community that uses an active government to pursue better community and social outcomes. Madison has been a liberal city for a long time.

The business community should go further and acknowledge another truth: Madison has been and will continue to be fertile ground for doing business.

Three months ago, I started offering paid sick leave to my employees. The costs are negligible. At most, a business would see a 3 percent increase in payroll costs. Most businesses would see a smaller increase. In this age of double-digit increases in health-care and energy costs, this seems quite modest.

My employees, while happy to get the benefit, correctly viewed it as small potatoes. One employee told me he would rather have a comparable pay raise.

While the debate over paid sick leave will probably generate lots of political heat, all evidence points to it being of marginal interest to most employees and having a very small impact on the cost of doing business.

I encourage my fellow small business owners not to be so easily sucked into the middle of this debate. Over the last two years, I have become aware of many small business owners who have felt battered, and we owe them better than to be used as mere political fodder.