San Francisco’s Paid Sick Leave Ordinance became law yesterday, but employers probably won’t have to pay it until June 5th. Voters made history last November by passing Proposition F, making San Francisco the first place in the nation where employees have the right to paid sick leave. Under Prop F, employees who have worked for at least 90 days will start accruing one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. An estimated 115,000 workers in San Francisco currently have no paid sick leave at their jobs, forcing them to choose between showing up to work sick and paying their rent. In the restaurant industry, 74% of employees have no paid sick leave.

But while Prop F delayed the Ordinance’s effect until three months after the Election, the Chamber of Commerce is now asking for more time to figure out how to make it work. Concerned about employers getting hit with statutory penalties due to lack of compliance, they have requested a four-month “grace period” to delay the Ordinance’s effect for employers to begin tracking their employees’ sick-leave accruals. Supervisors Sean Elsbernd and Aaron Peskin have proposed an Amendment to allow for this “grace period,” which will be heard on February 8th at the Rules Committee.

The proposed amendment won’t postpone the right to sick leave during that four-month period – it would just delay its enforcement for employers who act in good faith and are trying to adjust to the transition. Qualified workers will still accrue “sick time” during the grace period, but employers will not be penalized for failing to pay employees who call in sick. For example, if a worker gets sick in March and misses work for two days, their employer would not have to pay them for those two days at that time. But they will have to pay them later for that particular absence – after June 5th, when the employer has had time to create a bookkeeping system.

While it’s frustrating to wait yet another four months for such a basic right, advocates of Paid Sick Leave are not opposing this amendment. “It’s a transition period,” said Sonya Mehta of Young Workers United. “We’ve been in conversation with Supervisor Elsbernd and the Chamber of Commerce on how to help businesses implement it, and we’re working with the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement to clarify the rules. We want to make sure that we’re actively involved in the process, and what really matters in the end is that workers get paid sick leave.”

Prop F’s victory has prompted other cities to look into passing paid sick leave ordinances, and Senator Ted Kennedy has proposed legislation to pass it at the federal level. Because San Francisco is the first place to make Paid Sick Leave the law, said Mehta, there’s an added level of importance to make sure that it gets implemented right. If advocates allow employers a few extra months to fix their “time-sheets” and make sure that they are tracking the sick leave that their employees accrue, it will make it harder for a recalcitrant employer to plead ignorance later on down the road.

In the meantime, Young Workers United is committed to educating businesses about the requirements under the new law – and held a press conference yesterday to help spread the word.

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