PSD for City Contractors and Subsidy Recipients is Law in Philadelphia!

Great news! The paid sick days amendment to Philadelphia's 21st Century Minimum Wage and Benefits Ordinance, which passed 15-2 on October 13, became law today.  This bill, which will go into effect on July 1, 2011, will ensure that covered employers shall provide to each full-time, non-temporary, non-seasonal covered employee at least the number of earned sick leave days that the employer would have been required to provide to such employees if the provisions of Bill No. 080474-AA, as passed by Council on June 16, 2011, had been enacted into law rather than vetoed by the Mayor.

The employers described below are considered "covered employers":

1. The City of Philadelphia, including all its agencies, departments and offices. 
2. For-profit Service Contractors, which receive or are subcontractors on contract(s) for $10,000 or more from the City in a twelve-month period, with annual gross receipts of more than $1,000,000. 
3. Non-profit Service Contractors which receive or are subcontractors on contract(s) from the City of more than $100,000 in a twelve-month period. 
4. Recipients of City leases, concessions, or franchises, or subcontractors thereof, which employ more than twenty-five (25) employees. 
5. City financial aid recipients. Compliance shall be required for a period of five (5) years following receipt of aid. 
6. Public agencies which receive contract(s) for $10,000 or more from the City in a twelve-month period. 

The Philadelphia Living Wage and Benefits Law already requires those City-supported employers to pay at least 150% of the federal minimum wage to its employees. It also mandates that if the employer provides healthcare benefits to any of its employees, the employer shall provide each full-time employee healthcare benefits at least as valuable as the basic healthcare benefits that are provided to the employer's other full-time employees. There is an exemption for small businesses.

The Coalition for Healthy Families and Workplaces would like to thank Councilman Goode, who was the main sponsor of the bill, as well as to the other 8 cosponsors and the members who voted for this bill on October 13.