Will Local Employers Be Required to Give Paid Sick Leave?

By Eric B. Meyer
Special to the Legal

Employers beware. The cost of doing business in Philadelphia may be on the rise.

City Council is currently considering a bill that would require businesses to provide paid sick leave to employees who work a minimum number of hours in Philadelphia County.

Businesses with 11 or more employees would have to provide 72 hours (approximately nine days) or more of paid sick leave or paid time off (PTO) and businesses with 10 or fewer employees would have to provide 40 hours (approximately five days) a year. Businesses that currently meet or exceed the bill’s standards would be exempt. However, employers with a PTO policy may not be exempt from the bill if employees lose vacation time as a result of utilizing sick leave.

You can read the full “Promoting Healthy Families and Workplaces” bill here.

On the heels of another employee-friendly measure under consideration in City Council, many local business owners showed up to a City Council meeting last week to voice their displeasure with the bill. The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce also strenuously opposes the bill.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that City Council may vote on the “Promoting Healthy Families and Workplaces” bill on March 24. Mayor Michael Nutter appears set to veto the bill, if it passes City Council.

Eric B. Meyer is a member of the labor and employment group at Dilworth Paxson. Meyer also has his own labor and employment law blog, The Employer Handbook and readers can contact him via e-mail and follow him on Twitter.

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[Jeff Spangler]

For the family-friendly view of the women who raise our children, see the MomsRising website at: www.momsrising.org/page/s-sick-days-paid