Paid sick leave advocates were dealt a blow by an East Coast city’s decision not to endorse a new leave law.
Last week, Michael Nutter, mayor of Philadelphia, vetoed the “Promoting Health Families and Workplace” ordinance that would have required city employers to provide paid sick leave to staff.
In March, the bill fell one vote short of being able to override a mayoral veto, setting up last week’s decision.
Had it been passed, Philadelphia companies with six to 19 employees would have had to offer four paid sick days a year. For employers with 20 or more workers, the number of paid sick days would have jumped to seven.
The veto wasn’t much of a surprise — Nutter struck down a similar measure in 2011. Nutter said about the latest veto, “The burden businesses would face in meeting the requirements of this bill would deter job creation and decrease the competitiveness of our city at a time when we can ill afford it.”
The decision came at a time when the Healthy Families Act was recently re-introduced into Congress and after cities like Washington DC, Seattle and San Francisco passed their own paid sick leave laws.
Paid sick leave bill struck down in Philadelphia
