How Do Regulations Stack Up as a Small Firm Grows?
Tomorrow, electric utilities and green groups team up at the National Press Club to ask for billions of new spending on what they term energy efficiency. New versions of such stimulus and bailout proposals appear almost daily.
We spend a lot of time at CEI now proposing wealth-enhancing alternatives to these massive wealth transfers to government contractors and corporations. The right “stimulus” instead liberalizes wealth creation, it doesn’t spread around the dwindling wealth that already exists, like a self-appointed Benevolent Vulture; I submit one important approach–especially in today’s crisis situation–is to inventory all the regulations that impact a small business as it grows, and look hard at rollbacks. Below is the rough inventory I’ve compiled over time, but I’m sure it’s out of date and some things have changed. And this doesn’t even addess industry-specific rules (see endnote), which are probably the ones most in need of reform. I heartily welcome any additions and subtractions. We can’t manage something if we can’t measure it.
FEDERAL WORKPLACE REGULATION IMPOSED ON GROWING BUSINESSES* (Draft—Wayne Crews)
ONE EMPLOYEE
-Fair Labor Standards Act (overtime and minimum wage [27% min. wage increase since 1990])
-Social Security matching and deposits
-Medicare, FICA
-Military Selective Service Act (90 days leave for reservists; rehire discharged veterans)
-Equal Pay Act (no sex discrimination in wages)
-Immigration Reform Act (eligibility must be documented)
-Federal Unemployment Tax Act (unemployment compensation)
-Employee Retirement Income Security Act (standards for pension and benefit plans)
-Occupational Safety and Health Act
-Polygraph Protection Act4 EMPLOYEES: ALL THE ABOVE, PLUS
-Immigration Reform Act (no discrimination with regard to national origin, citizenship, or intention to obtain citizenship)
15 EMPLOYEES: ALL THE ABOVE, PLUS
-Civil Rights Act Title VII (no discrimination with regard to race, color, origin, religion, or sex; pregnancy-related protections; recordkeeping)
-Americans with Disabilities Act (no discrimination, “reasonable accommodations”)20 EMPLOYEES: ALL THE ABOVE, PLUS
-Age Discrimination Act (no discrimination on the basis of age against those 40 and older)
-Older Worker Benefit Protection Act (benefits for older workers must be commensurate with younger workers)
-COBRA (continuation of medical benefits for up to 18 months upon termination)25 EMPLOYEES: ALL THE ABOVE, PLUS
-Health Maintenance Organization Act (HMO Option required)
-Veterans’ Reemployment Act (reemployment for persons returning from active duty, reserve, or Nat’l Guard)50 EMPLOYEES: ALL THE ABOVE, PLUS
-Family and Medical Leave Act (12 weeks unpaid leave or care for newborn or ill family member)
100 EMPLOYEES: ALL THE ABOVE, PLUS
-WARN Act (60-days written plant closing notice)
-Civil Rights Act (annual EEO-1 form)*Assumes non-union, non-government contractor, with interstate operations and a basic employee benefits package. Includes general workforce-related regulation only. Omitted are categories such as environmental and consumer product safety regulations, and regulations applying to specific types of businesses such as mining, farming, trucking or financial firms.