Hearing held on bill that would amend paid sick leave law

By Arthur Jones , Multimedia Reporter/Producer Nebraska Public Media News

Feb. 3, 2025, 6:29 p.m. ·

The Business and Labor Committee hearing Sen. Paul Strommen speak about his bill LB698. (Arthur Jones/Nebraska Public Media News)

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A hearing was held on Monday to discuss a LB698, a bill introduced by Sen. Paul Strommen that would make modifications to the mandatory paid sick leave law that 75% of Nebraskans voted in favor of last November.

The changes would include increasing the minimum number of employees a business must have to be required to provide paid sick leave from one to at least 11 employees. The changes also include making workers age 15 and under as well as temporary and seasonal agricultural workers ineligible for the mandatory paid sick leave.

The final change is to remove a section that allows employees to seek legal recourse if they feel that their employer has violated their ability to accrue paid sick leave up to four years past their last date of employment.

Sen. Strommen and those for his bill said that it will cost small businesses, and either put them out of business or limit the availability of jobs those small businesses offer. They also believe that it will force small businesses to pass the costs from the business to the consumer.

“The sum of this bill is to ensure that both employees and employers in our most vulnerable small businesses in the state are not finding themselves in a position where they're going to have to start letting folks go,” Strommen said to the senate committee on business and labor.

Those who are against the adoption of LB698, such as Rosa Pinto, a community organizer for Heartland Workers Center, said that the changes hurt workers and their rights, as well as lead to missed paychecks or working while sick.

"People are for this bill, for this law that passed, because they're looking at the future for when they need the time,” said Pinto. “They're worried for the future, they're worried for their bills, they're worried for their families.”

Currently, if a business has less than 20 full or part-time employees and does not already offer a paid sick leave program, it is required to provide employees with at least five days of paid sick leave a year. If the business has more than 20 full and or part-time employees, it must provide employees with at least seven days of paid sick leave a year.

The start date for Nebraska’s workers to begin accruing mandatory sick leave is scheduled to begin on Oct. 1, 2025.