Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Paid Sick Leave topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Rules Committee advances 120-day transition for San Francisco paid sick-leave ordinance
Summary
The Rules Committee voted to forward an ordinance (Section 12W.17) creating a Feb. 5–June 5 transition window for the city's paid sick-leave law, during which employers must track accruals but may delay payment until June 5 and civil penalties for nonpayment are temporarily suspended. The item was moved to the full board after extensive public comment from businesses, hospitals and worker advocates.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors Rules Committee on the committee's agenda moved an ordinance to the full board that would delay payment obligations under the city's paid sick-leave law for 120 days while keeping other employee protections in force.
"What this ordinance does is essentially take a 4 month period starting with, February 5 going through June 5," Paul, a city staff member summarizing the measure, told the committee. "It says for that period of time, employers have to keep all of the records that they would have to keep anyway under the paid sick leave ordinance. That during that period of time, they would not actually have to make the payment of paid sick leave. They could if they wanted. They wouldn't have to." He added that payments would be due on June 5 and that anti-retaliation protections in the underlying ordinance remain unchanged.
The ordinance would add Section 12W.17 to the Administrative Code and suspend administrative penalties, liquidated damages, compensatory costs to the city and attorney's fees for failures to pay required sick leave during the transition window. Paul noted the language references provisions of the paid sick-leave ordinance (12W.8B and 12W.8C) and said the measure was intended to allow time to resolve implementation ambiguities without stripping other legal protections.
Business groups and hospitals urged the committee to approve a transition period to allow time for technical implementation. "There are still so many unanswered questions regarding interpretation and technical applications that would undermine the full compliance at this time," Patricia Breslin, executive director of the Hotel Council, told supervisors. Ron Smith of the Hospital Council said many hospitals use PTO rather than separate sick-leave codes and that payroll systems and per-diem staffing arrangements will require programming and policy changes; he asked for more time to implement and troubleshoot systems.
Small-business and merchant groups said many employers had not been aware of the law and supported the breathing room. "This will give us some extra time to reach beyond our membership and try to educate everybody what needs to be done," Rolf Miller of the Council of District Merchants said. Advocates who sponsored the ballot measure also spoke: "We look forward to working with the city during these extra hundred and 20 days," Sarah Flocks of Young Workers United said, while urging that implementation remain faithful to the law's purpose.
Donna of the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement (OLSE) reviewed the department's outreach since passage, saying OLSE had mailed 100,000 poster notices with the business tax registration and posted FAQs online. She said remaining questions—on pay rates for commission workers, breaks in service for temporary workers and how accrual applies when employees transfer outside the city—should be answered within one to two weeks and posted on the city's FAQ. On exempt employees, OLSE said it would use a 40-hour workweek assumption for enforcement unless evidence shows otherwise.
Chair Amiano moved the committee's report to send the ordinance to the full board; no committee vote was recorded on the floor that day. The committee scheduled the full board hearing on the item for the following Tuesday.
Next steps: the item will appear before the full Board of Supervisors for a hearing and possible action.
