Koch Brothers-backed group tries to stand in the way as states pass paid sick leave

The National Federation of Independent Business, a Koch Brothers-backed lobbying group, leads the way in campaigning against paid sick leave throughout the U.S

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A legal assault against paid sick leave laws is raging throughout the U.S. and the Koch brothers are secretly behind it all.

The National Federation of Independent Business, a Koch Brothers-backed lobbying group, leads the way in campaigning against paid sick leave throughout the U.S. While the group tried to stall the decision of lawmakers in Maryland’s to override the governor’s veto of a bill that would allow workers to earn sick leave, the NFIB’s efforts came up short as the bill, which gives 700,000 workers the benefit, went into affect on Sunday.

Now the group is lobbying to get lawmakers in Austin, Texas to vote no on Thursday on an ordinance that would require paid sick leave be provided by private employers. The NFIB is “wrongly claiming” that the ordinance “has no provision for reasonable notice to employers regarding the employee’s absence” and “does not set a limit on accrued time,” according to The Guardian.

But the ordinance clearly states that verification must be provided by the employee if he or she extends sick leave past three days, employers can limit the number of sicks days per year to eight, and employers aren’t obliged to pay out sick time when an employee quits.

If passed, Austin would become the first state in the South to require paid sick leave from private employers.

But Will Newton, NFIB’s Texas Executive Director, said he will draft a “pre-emptive” law at the state level to block paid sick leave in Austin.

According to The Guardian, tax records show that most of the NFIB’s board members are either former or current “key figures” of Koch Industries and other Koch entities, all while the group totes it’s representatives to be “proponents of small businesses. The group, which is known to lobby for the interests of billionaires and corporations alike, refuses to provide a donor list.

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