When you’ve owned a small business, as I have for 23 years, you learn quickly that your employees are not expendable. They are people who show up every day and know your customers, your systems and your culture, and make your business work.

That’s why smart employers focus on retention. And one of the most overlooked drivers of retention is whether a company supports workers when life doesn’t go according to plan.

Right now, in New York, that support falls short, but thanks to proposed bill A9571, we have the opportunity to fix it.

How New York can offer workers more stability

Currently, if a worker becomes seriously ill or is injured outside of work, the state’s Temporary Disability Benefits program provides no more than $170 per week, a figure that hasn’t budged in nearly four decades. In 1989, when the $170 cap was set, it was above the $117.25 a worker could earn making minimum wage during a 35-hour week. In today’s economy, a 35-hour work week on minimum wage amounts to $560 per week........

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