Paid Sick Leave Even Closer to Reality — Now With Nutter’s Support

A Council committee gave it a thumbs-up Tuesday. Mayor's chief of staff also testified in favor.

Get a compelling long read and must-have lifestyle tips in your inbox every Sunday morning — great with coffee!

A Philadelphia City Council committee has unanimously approved a bill that would require local businesses to provide paid sick leave to their employees.

The legislation, which was sponsored by Councilman Bill Greenlee, would mandate that businesses with at least 10 workers offer the benefit.

Employees would earn one hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours they work, for a maximum total of five days each year, under the legislation.

The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce had previously called for Greenlee to amend his bill so it only applied to businesses with 50 or more employees.

Greenlee expects the full Council to pass the legislation on February 12th.

A task force appointed by Mayor Nutter previously recommended that such a bill only apply to businesses with 15 or more employees, but Greenlee said last month he had enough votes on Council to override a veto. In prior years, Nutter had twice vetoed paid sick leave legislation.

On Tuesday, Everett Gillison, Nutter’s chief-of-staff, testified in favor of mandatory paid sick leave. He said in past years Nutter did not believe the time was right for the proposal because the city’s businesses were still reeling from the recession.