Rep. Zirkelbach introduces a bill that would require giving Vets the day off

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Rep. Ray Zirkelbach has introduced a bill that would require employers to give veterans Veteran's Day off.

Introduced by State Rep. Ray Zirkelbach, D-Monticello, the legislation would require employers to give veterans Nov. 11 off -- paid or unpaid -- if the employee would otherwise be required to work.

The bill also requires an employee seeking time off for Veterans Day to provide their employer with at least 30 days' notice. Emergency responders would be exempt from the mandate. An employer in violation of the law could be subject to a maximum fine of $500.

Supporters say veterans have earned the right to a day off in honor of their service. Foes fear it could create two classes of employees in the work place.

If the bill passes, Iowa would be the first state to offer Veterans Day as a paid holiday. The measure passed unanimously out of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, chaired by Zirkelbach, last week. It now goes before the full House for debate, most likely on Monday, Feb. 8.

Yeah, I don't know about that. On the surface it sounds like a good idea. But I think in practice it'll be a mess. I wrote to my state legislature critters this morning and asked them these questions;

Say you have a working environment like mine - which is a small team of six people who staff a computer room on a 24x7x365 (or 366) basis. Say five of them served in the military. Shutting down the place is not an option. Nor is forcing that one person who didn't serve to work the entire 24 hour period an option either. What does the employer do then? What if all six members of the team are veterans? Does the bill deal with all the contingencies that may arise? Does it recognize that in some places it simply isn't an option to have everyone take off on a particular day? We're not all in office jobs where just about the entire office can take off for the day with little or no disruption to the business.