Businesses with 10 or more employees must comply
The Philadelphia City
Council passed a bill on February 12, 2015, mandating paid sick leave for businesses
within city limits that employ 10 or more workers. Mayor Michael Nutter has
signed the bill into law. NFIB doesn’t oppose paid leave as a business owner’s
choice, but is against a government mandate requiring it. That’s because many small businesses
simply cannot afford the cost of such a rule. If a business with 10 employees loses one worker for a week, its
workforce is down 10 percent. That affects productivity and therefore
profitability. Having to pay the absent worker on top of that simply
increases the cost. NFIB research in a number of states has shown that
mandated leave policies are likely to cause tens of thousands of job losses and
billions of dollars in lost economic output.
In the Philadelphia City Council
vote, 14 members voted for the measure and 2 opposed it. Republicans David Oh
and Brian O’Neill voted against it. Similar bills have been passed twice before by the council, only to be
vetoed by the Mayor. At the time, Mayor
Nutter said the economy still hadn’t recovered enough to implement mandated
leave. He empaneled a task force to look
into the issue of paid leave. When that panel recently delivered its report, it suggested that companies with 15
or more employees be required to provide paid leave. The Council passed a more
stringent bill at the 10-and-above level. The bill requires workers be granted one hour of paid leave for every 40
hours of work, or about 5 days a year.
NFIB Pennsylvania is continuing to fight at the state
legislature to bar local jurisdictions from passing such laws without the
consent of the state. Senator John
Eichelberger (R-Blair) has introduced such a bill in the Senate and Rep. Seth
Grove (R-York) is sponsoring a similar bill in the state House.
Related Updates >>
Pennsylvania Senate Approves Ban on Local Paid Leave Mandates
Advocates of Paid Leave Mandate Continue Fight
Governor Vows to Protect Philadelphia Sick Leave Mandate
