More from Governor Hogan on Paid Sick Leave

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On May 25, after announcing that he intended to veto the paid sick leave law passed by the Maryland General Assembly (the “Maryland Healthy Working Families Act”), Governor Hogan said he will sign three executive orders dealing with paid sick leave.

The Governor said the three Executive Orders will have the following purposes:

  • To establish a task force to conduct a “field study” on the impact of a paid leave mandate.
  • To extend paid leave to all contract workers employed by the Executive branch of the State of Maryland.
  • To direct procurement agencies to give a preference to subcontractors who offer paid sick leave to their employees.

The Governor’s task force will be chaired by DLLR Secretary Kelly Schulz and will include representatives of the Maryland Office of Minority Affairs, Department of Commerce, and Department of Human Resources.   The task force will hold meetings with stakeholders throughout Maryland this summer and fall, including employers, employees, and groups representing their interests.  It will seek information on how paid leave will affect them.  The task force will report its findings to the Governor in December 2017.

The Governor also said his Administration will, using the information gathered by the task force, submit a paid leave bill on the first day of the next General Assembly session (which begins in January 2018).  It will be styled as “emergency legislation,” which means if passed, it would go into effect immediately after it is signed by the Governor.  Such a bill likely will mirror the bill the Administration submitted last session, which among other things, applied to employers with 50 or more employees and provided five paid leave days per year.

Governor Hogan described the other two Executive Orders as an effort to lead by example.

Although Governor Hogan said he is vetoing the sick leave bill because he cannot support “job killing” legislation, he said he is committed to advancing “common sense” legislation to provide “reasonable” paid leave to Maryland workers.