On Tuesday, the mayor-appointed Paid Sick Leave (PSL) commission presented an overview of their work during the past five months along with their key recommendations. The PSL Commission chair, Danielle L. Hargrove, informed the ad hoc committee that all recommendations seek to stay true to focus on public health and ensure that the ordinance is more legally defensible. Below are the key recommendations proposed by the commission:
- Revise the name to “sick and safe leave ordinance”
- Employers’ sizes removed in favor of equal applicability to all employers (‘one-size-fits-all approach’)
- Baseline hours of sick and safe leave that an employee can accrue in one year is 56 hours across the board. (Previously was 48 hours for small employers or 64 hours for medium-to-large employers.)
- No delayed implementation for employers with five or fewer employees.
- The word “time” was removed and replaced with “benefits” to avoid the wage aspect of the ordinance.
Last November, Mayor Nirenberg appointed Councilwoman Melissa Cabello Havrda, Councilwoman Ana Sandoval, Councilman Roberto Trevino, and Councilwoman Rebecca Viagran. Councilman Manny Pelaez was appointed as chair. The ad hoc committee had one job – create a Paid Sick Leave (PSL) Commission that is “empaneled for the purpose of delivering an enforceable ordinance.” The ad hoc committee officially appointed the twelve-member commission in March of 2019, and they began meeting on April 17, 2018.
Since April, the commission has had 15 total meetings to help provide recommendations to the ad hoc committee. In June, the commission was divided into five subcommittees: compliance/governance; definitions/qualifications; execution; legal considerations; and research/best practices. Each of the five subcommittees met separately and reported out at each of the full commission meetings.
The ad hoc committee will meet again once more to review the revised ordinance before a September 19 B-Session briefing on the re-named Sick and Safe Leave Ordinance.
In addition, the City will host two information sessions on the revised ordinance:
- September 23, 2019 at 6pm at the TriPoint Events Center
- September 25, 2019 at 6pm at El Progresso Hall
City Council consideration is expected at the October 3 A-Session. For more information on the revised ordinance or the Chamber’s position on the ordinance, please contact Stephanie Reyes, Vice President of Public Policy by email at sreyes@sachamber.org or by phone at 210-229-2162.
