Congratulations Seattle! AT CAGJ’S JUNE 11 DINNER, WE SENT A MESSAGE TO SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL: “WE SUPPORT PAID SICK DAYS FOR FOOD WORKERS!” (see photo) And we won!
Seattle Times article: Seattle approves paid sick-leave requirement
The Seattle City Council on Monday [Sept 12, 2011] agreed to require businesses with at least five employees to provide paid sick leave.
By LYNN THOMPSON
Seattle Times staff reporter
To loud cheers from hundreds of supporters, the Seattle City Council on Monday [Sept 12, 2011] agreed to require businesses with at least five employees to provide paid sick leave to workers.
Seattle becomes just the third city in the country, after San Francisco and Washington, D.C., to mandate paid leave for employees to care for themselves or family members when ill. The state of Connecticut also has approved mandatory paid sick leave.
Councilmember Nick Licata, who sponsored the legislation, said the bill allows businesses to succeed while also ensuring good working conditions for employees.
“It’s wrong that someone has to choose between going to work sick or losing pay,” Licata said.
But several representatives of business at the packed City Council hearing said it was unwise to enact new requirements on business while the economy continues to struggle.
“You’re making it more expensive to do business and more difficult to create jobs,” said Joe Quintana, a Seattle business consultant.
The bill exempts businesses with fewer than five employees and new businesses during their first two years of operation. Businesses with five to 49 employees must provide a minimum of five paid sick days. Companies with 50 to 249 employees must provide seven, and those with more than 250 workers must provide nine paid days off.
The legislation takes effect September 2012. The council also ordered a review of the bill after it’s been in place for a year.
The only “no” vote came from council President Richard Conlin, who objected to providing different benefits depending on the size of the business.
He noted that workers at very small companies — about 39,000 in the city — won’t get any coverage and that the sick-leave requirement can be waived as part of collective bargaining.
He wondered, if the goal is to protect public health by keeping sick workers at home, why the city is excluding workers and allowing others to bargain away the right to paid leave.
“I’m concerned there may be unintended consequences,” Conlin said.
Paid sick leave: Source: Seattle City Council
The Seattle City Council approved a bill Monday mandating paid sick leave at all businesses with at least five full-time employees. Businesses with the equivalent of:
5 to 49 full-time employees would have to provide at least five days of paid sick leave per year. Sick leave would accrue at a rate of one hour for every 40 hours worked.
50 to 249 employees would have to provide at least seven days paid sick leave per year. Sick leave would accrue at a rate of one hour for every 40 hours worked.
250 or more employees would have to provide at least nine days sick leave per year. Sick leave would accrue at a rate of one hour for every 30 hours worked.
Also, businesses less than 2 years old would be exempt. There would be a six-month waiting period before workers could start using their accrued paid time off.
Lynn Thompson: 206-464-8305 or [email protected]
