City Council on Thursday passed a bill mandating paid sick leave for many Philadelphia workers and, after vetoing two previous incarnations of the legislation, Mayor Michael Nutter quickly signed it into law.
The bill has been spearheaded for the past four years by Councilman Bill Greenlee.
It will require companies with 10 or more employees to provide paid sick leave for employees, who will earn one hour of sick leave for every 40 hours of work, up to five days per year. Previous versions of the bill limited the exemption to companies with under five employees, but that was expanded this term, which brought Nutter on board. Smaller companies will still, Greenlee noted, be required to allow sick leave, but it can be unpaid.
Since its introduction in 2011, the legislation has been backed by LGBT advocates. Among the enumerated reasons workers can reference for sick leave is the care of a same-sex partner.
“The LGBT community has been very supportive of it,” Greenlee told PGN this week.
Supporters of the effort have included the Working Families Coalition, Philadelphia National Organization for Women, Action United and Service Employees International Union and several other unions.
“I really have to give the unions credit,” Greenlee said. “The bill states that people involved in collective bargaining are exempt, but they still wanted to show their support.”
While the legislation garnered a wealth of diverse support, Greenlee noted, it also had its detractors.
“There was a lot of opposition, a lot of different businesses, the restaurant association. There was a lot of heavy lobbying by some heavy hitters for them to opposite it, but Councilpeople hung tough and support kept growing, as more Councilmembers listened to the reasons for this bill and saw that it makes sense.”
When Greenlee first proposed the legislation, Philadelphia would have become the second in the nation to offer paid sick leave, after San Francisco; there are now 17 other cities and three states that have adopted some form of sick-leave legislation.
“It’s certainly been frustrating that it took this long, but sometimes things don’t happen as quickly as we’d like. I would have liked Philadelphia to have been at the forefront,” Greenlee said. “But I’m glad it’s finally on the way to become law. We’re still ahead of a lot of places.”