Paid Sick Leave: A Draft Ordinance

Next Tuesday the Tacoma City Council is scheduled to discuss paid sick leave and possible paid leave ordinance. It's an evolving discussion, and this is the first draft of an ordinance that we've seen, so it could change, but it's a first look at actual language from the City on the subject.

You can download and view the full draft document for yourself, but here are some highlights:

• Employers would be required to provide employees with a minimum of one hour of paid leave for every 40 hours worked.
• Employees would be entitled to use up to 24 hours of accrued paid leave in any given calendar year. 
• Employers would not be required to allow an employee to use more than 24 hours of paid leave in any given calendar year, even if the Employee has more paid leave accrued.
• Paid leave would begin to accrue for existing employees on the effective date of the ordinance, and for new employees, on the commencement of employment.
• New employees could begin to use accrued paid leave after 6 months of employment.
• An employer with a combined or universal paid leave policy, such as a paid time off (“PTO”) policy, is not required to provide additional paid leave under this chapter, so long as the policy meets the minimum conditions under the ordinance.

Employees would be entitled to use paid leave provided by the employer for the following reasons:

• mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition
• to accommodate medical diagnosis, care, treatment, or preventive medical care
• to care for a family member with a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition
• to care for a family member who needs medical diagnosis, care, treatment, or preventive medical care
• when the employee’s place of business has been closed by order of a public official to limit exposure to an infectious agent, biological toxin, or hazardous material
• to allow the employee to care for a child whose school or place of care has been closed by order of a public official
• in situations related to or derived from domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking - to enable the employee to seek legal or law enforcement assistance, or services from a domestic violence shelter, rape crisis center, or other social services program; to enable safety planning, temporary or permanent relocation; or other actions to ensure the health and safety of the employee or the employee’s family members

It looks a lot like the preliminary bare bones we've been hearing about, which have been the subject of quite a bit of comment at recent Citizens' Forum sessions. The majority of that comment has been in support of the idea of mandatory paid sick leave. We have heard some concerns about the impact on businesses as well, although those opinions have been somewhat less vocal.

Even those who support paid sick leave aren't entirely happy with some of these details. We've heard requests for five days - the draft leaves it at three. We've also heard concerns that union employees aren't included - the draft does include some language about exemptions for represented employees.

This ordinance shall take effect on January 1, 2016, provided that for any persons subject to a collective bargaining agreement, and subject to the waiver provision provided for herein, the ordinance shall take effect following the expiration of any collective bargaining agreement in place as of January 1, 2016.

The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to any employees covered by a bona fide collective bargaining agreement to the extent that the requirements of this ordinance are expressly waived in the collective bargaining agreement in clear and unambiguous terms.

Tacoma wouldn't be the first city to adopt mandatory paid sick leave - cities like Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle have set precedents, but it would be among the early adopters of such policies.

The ordinance is just in draft form, and we have a feeling there's a lot of discussion to come on the topic. We'll hear more about it at next week's City Council Committee of the Whole meeting, and we're guessing we'll hear more from the public at Tuesday's Citizens' Forum.

Would you support the proposal as written?