WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 22, 2015 – The International Franchise Association, which represents thousands of franchise businesses and jobs in the state of Massachusetts, today offered a comment in opposition to legislation pending in the state that would stifle small business growth and job creation. The bills, Massachusetts SB 1024, SB 973 and HB 1708, would impose mandatory wage increases on certain franchised businesses and new scheduling regulations that would harm small business operations.
In a statement to the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development, IFA’s Vice President for State Government Relations, Public Policy & Tax Counsel Dean Heyl, CFE, said the bills would be difficult, if not impossible, to implement in practice. “On the wage legislation, our primary concern is not with an increase. Rather, we are concerned that the increase is not applied uniformly and fairly. We believe that SB 1024 is discriminatory in that it applies a different standard to certain types of businesses.”
On the subject of the scheduling bills, SB 973 and HB 1708, Heyl raised concerns about how costly and impractical the new regulations would be. “We question how these bills would work in times of an emergency, especially when the amount of notice required would be impossible to provide. The costs associated with these bills could be devastating for small, mom and pop businesses. These folks own the store and not the chain.”
“Franchising in Massachusetts has created more than 13,500 franchise establishments employing over 149,000 individuals. These bills, while well intentioned, would do irreparable damage to the franchise model and would wind up hurting the very people they seek to help,” stated Heyl.
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About the International Franchise Association
The International Franchise Association is the world’s oldest and largest organization representing franchising worldwide. Celebrating over 50 years of excellence, education and advocacy, IFA works through its government relations and public policy, media relations and educational programs to protect, enhance and promote franchising. Through its media awareness campaign highlighting the theme, Franchising: Building Local Businesses, One Opportunity at a Time, IFA promotes the economic impact of the more than 825,000 franchise establishments, which support nearly 18 million jobs and $2.1 trillion of economic output for the U.S. economy. IFA members include franchise companies in over 300 different business format categories, individual franchisees and companies that support the industry in marketing, law and business development.