D.C. business community not surrendering the paid leave fight

The D.C. Chamber of Commerce has no intention of letting go of the paid leave issue.That was the message from Chamber President Vincent Orange this week after D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson took legislative edits off the table during a candidate debate. A spokeswoman for Mendelson confirmed he will not move the five pieces of legislation sitting in the Committee of the Whole. "He does not support any legislation that does not protect workers," she said in an emailed statement.The District's fledgling paid leave law requires D.C. employers to offer eight weeks of paid family leave, six weeks to care for a sick family member and two weeks of personal medical leave. The program is to be funded by a 0.62 percent payroll tax on employers, yielding about $250 million annually. Under the original timeline, employers would be taxed beginning in July 2019, and employees would begin receiving benefits in July 2020. Large business advocacy groups, including the Greater Washington Board of Trade and the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington, opposed the paid leave law, arguing the added costs will harm local businesses while the tax dollars collected will largely benefit D.C. workers who live in Maryland and Virginia.