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§ 9-4101. Findings.
   Whereas the Council finds that:
   (1)   Most workers in the City of Philadelphia will at some time during the year need temporary time off from work to take care of their own health needs or the health needs of members of their families.
   (2)   According to the Employee Benefit Survey of the national Bureau of Labor Statistics, thirty-five percent (35%) to forty percent (40%) of workers in Philadelphia, or approximately 200,000 workers, lack access to paid sick leave. Among workers who have paid sick leave, many have an inadequate amount of time they can use, are limited in their ability to use their sick time without retaliation or cannot use their sick time to care for their families. Nationally, nearly 4 in 10 of all workers do not have earned paid sick days and millions more workers cannot use sick days to care for sick children.
   (3)   In this economy, earned paid sick days are needed now more than ever. For too many Philadelphians, taking time off from work due to illness or family emergency means sacrificing much-needed income and risking loss of a job. As the economy returns to prosperity, families need every penny of the income they earn to stay financially secure. According to the Mayor's Task Force on Paid Sick Leave, for a family without paid time off, on average, 3.1 days of pay lost due to illness is equivalent to an entire month's health care budget and 3.5 days is equivalent to its entire monthly grocery budget.
   (4)   According to the national Bureau of Labor Statistics, low-income workers, especially women and minorities, are significantly less likely to have earned paid sick days than other members of the workforce. Nationally, four in five low income workers (80%) do not have access to paid sick days.
   (5)   Providing workers the opportunity to earn time off to attend to their own health care and the health care of family members will ensure a healthier and more productive workforce in the City of Philadelphia. Many studies document the impact of paid sick days on access to and use of preventative care and reduced recovery times. According to the Mayor's Task Force on Paid Sick Leave, women without paid sick days are significantly less likely to obtain preventive breast exams than women who have access to paid sick leave.
   (6)   Earned paid sick days will have a positive effect on the public health of the City of Philadelphia by allowing sick workers the occasional option of staying at home to care for themselves when ill, thus reducing their recovery time and reducing the likelihood of spreading illness to other members of the workforce and to the public. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines recommend that children be kept home for 24 hours after a fever and that people experiencing the flu avoid public contact for 5 days to reduce the risk of contagion for co- workers and the public. Workers without paid sick days are least likely to follow these guidelines.
   (7)   Paid sick days will also save taxpayers money. Workers without paid sick leave are five times more likely to report using the emergency room adding to avoidable health care costs.
   (8)   Earned paid sick days will allow parents to provide personal care for their sick children. Parental care makes children's recovery faster, prevents more serious illnesses, and improves children's overall mental and physical health.
   (9)   Families whose children have any learning disability, including autism, face a number of challenges. Parents without access to earned paid sick days must choose between providing essential care and treatment for their children or keeping a job that provides an essential income for their families.
   (10)   Providing a minimal number of earned paid sick days is affordable for employers and good for business.
   (11)   Employers who provide the opportunity for workers to earn paid sick days have greater employee retention and avoid the problem of workers coming to work sick and lowering productivity. Workers who come to work sick are less productive and more likely to experience workplace injury. According to the Mayor's Task Force on Paid Sick Leave, "presenteeism" or coming to work sick is estimated to cost employers twice as much as absenteeism due to illness.
   (12)   Nationally, almost sixty percent (60%) of those who provide unpaid care to an adult family member or friend must combine their caregiving with employment in order to provide financially for their family member and themselves.
   (13)   Employees frequently lose their jobs or are disciplined with suspensions or demerits for taking sick days to care for sick family members or even to recover from their own illnesses.
   (14)   Workers in jobs with significant public contact, such as service workers and restaurant workers, are very unlikely to have earned paid sick days. Because of the lack of earned paid sick days, these workers have no choice but to come to work when they are ill, thereby increasing the risk of passing illnesses on to co-workers and customers. For example, approximately seventy-eight percent (78%) of food service and accommodation workers in the Philadelphia area do not have earned paid sick days.
   (15)   In 2010, more than 115,000 individuals called the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) for help with domestic violence emergencies – representing more than 300 calls per day.
   (16)   Because incidents of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking are tragically common and affect a large number of workers, the ability to use earned paid sick days to protect survivors' jobs when they seek help is an important protection for workers who cannot afford to take unpaid time off.
§ 9-4102. Purposes.
   The purposes of this Chapter are:
   (1)   To ensure that workers employed in the City of Philadelphia can address their own health needs and the health needs of their families by requiring employers to provide a minimum level of paid sick days including time for family care;
   (2)   To reduce public and private health care costs in the City of Philadelphia by enabling workers to seek early and routine medical care for themselves and their family members;
   (3)   To protect workers employed in the City of Philadelphia from losing their jobs while they use sick days to care for themselves or their families;
   (4)   To assist victims of domestic violence and their family members by providing them with job-protected paid time away from work to allow them to receive treatment and to take the necessary steps to ensure their protection;
   (5)   To safeguard the public welfare, health, safety and prosperity of the people of and visitors to the City of Philadelphia; and
   (6)   To accomplish the purposes described in subsections (1) - (5) in a manner that is feasible for employers and that does not require employers to provide any additional paid time to their employees if they already provide the same amount of paid time off that can be used for the same purposes and under the same conditions as required in this Ordinance.
§ 9-4103. Definitions.
   (1)   Agency means such office as the Mayor shall designate.
   (2)   Domestic abuse is abuse as defined in 23 Pa. C.S. § 6102(a) or domestic violence as defined in Code Section 9-3201. 1342
   (3)   Employee means any individual employed by an employer who performs work within the geographic boundaries of the City of Philadelphia for at least 40 hours in a year; but excluding independent contractors, seasonal workers, adjunct professors, employees hired for a term of less than six months, interns, pool employees, State and Federal employees, and employees covered by a bona fide collective bargaining agreement.
   (4)   Employer is as defined in the Act of January 17, 1968, P.L. 11, No. 5, § 3 (43 P.S. § 333.103(g)); except that an employer that employs fewer than ten (10) employees for at least forty (40) weeks in a calendar year shall not be required to provide its employees with paid sick time under the provisions of this Chapter. In determining the number of persons employed during a given week, all persons performing work for compensation on a full-time, part-time, or temporary basis shall be counted. A chain establishment shall be required to provide paid sick time under this Chapter regardless of the number of employees in that establishment.
   (5)   Employ is as defined in 43 P.S. § 333.103(f).
   (6)   Philadelphia means the geographic boundaries of the City of Philadelphia.
   (7)   Chain establishment means an establishment doing business under the same trade name used by fifteen (15) or more establishments whether such other establishments are located in the City or elsewhere and regardless of the type of ownership of each individual establishment.
   (8)   Family member means:
      (a)   A biological, adopted or foster child, stepchild or legal ward or a child to whom the employee stands in loco parentis;
      (b)   A biological, foster, stepparent or adoptive parent or legal guardian of an employee or an employee's spouse or a person who stood in loco parentis when the employee was a minor child;
      (c)   A person to whom the employee is legally married under the laws of Pennsylvania;
      (d)   A grandparent or spouse of a grandparent;
      (e)   A grandchild;
      (f)   A biological, foster, or adopted sibling or spouse of a biological, foster or adopted sibling;
      (g)   A Life Partner as defined in Section 9-1102 of this Code.
   (9)   Health care employee means any person who has full-time or part-time employment within a healthcare organization, including but not limited to hospitals, nursing homes, and home healthcare providers.  1343
   (10)   Health care professional means any person licensed under Federal or Pennsylvania law to provide medical or emergency services, including but not limited to doctors, nurses and emergency room personnel.
   (11)   Intern means a student who is enrolled in an educational institution and who is performing work for that institution, provided that such student shall not be considered an intern for the purposes of this Chapter when working for any employer other than the educational institution in which the student is enrolled.
   (12)   Paid sick time or paid sick days means time that is compensated at the same hourly rate and with the same benefits, including health care benefits, as the employee normally earns from the employee's employment at the time the employee uses the paid sick time and is provided by an employer to an employee for the purposes described in Section 9-4105 of this Chapter.
   (13)   Pool employee means any health care professional, other than an employee of a temporary placement agency, who works only when he or she indicates that he or she is available for work and who has no obligation to work when he or she does not indicate availability.
   (14)   Retaliatory personnel action means the discharge, suspension, or demotion by an employer of an employee or any other adverse action taken by an employer against an employee.
   (15)   Seasonal worker means a person who has been hired for a temporary period of not more than sixteen weeks during a calendar year.
   (16)   Sexual assault means any physical sexual contact without the consent of the victim.
   (17)   Sick time means time off from work that is provided by an employer to an employee, whether paid or unpaid, that can be used for the purposes described in Section 9-4105  1344 of this Chapter.
   (18)   Stalking is as defined in subsection 9-3201(7) of this Code.
   (19)   Epidemic means an outbreak of disease that spreads quickly and affects many individuals at the same time.  1345
   (20)   Pandemic means an outbreak of disease that occurs over a wide geographic area and affects an exceptionally high proportion of the population.  1346

 

Notes

Section 9-4103 - Recent Amendment
This section has been amended by Bill No. 240932 (approved December 23, 2024).
1342
   Amended, Bill No. 210249 (approved May 11, 2021).
1343
   Added and subsequent subsections renumbered, Bill No. 200306 (approved September 9, 2020).
1344
   Enrolled bill read "§ 9-3305".
1345
   Added, Bill No. 200306 (approved September 9, 2020).
1346
   Added, Bill No. 200306 (approved September 9, 2020).
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