LA City Council OKs Plan Requiring Employers To Increase Paid Sick Days

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — The Los Angeles City Council Tuesday tentatively approved a proposal that requires employers to offer at least six days of paid sick leave to workers.

City Council members voted 13-1 in favor of the policy, which seeks twice the amount of hours mandated by the state.

The six days would apply to employees who have worked at least 30 days within a year, with employers required to provide the leave upfront or through an accrual process of one hour for every 30 hours worked.

The proposal would require businesses to start implementing the changes starting July 1. But smaller businesses that have 25 employees or less will have until July 2017.

"This is not only the right thing to do, it's the smart thing to do," said Councilman Curren Price, who chairs the Economic Development Committee that advanced the plan. "Employees who come to work sick are unproductive and risk spreading (illness) to not only co-workers but to customers."

City officials say accrued paid sick leave could be carried over to the following year under the proposal. However, employers would have the option to cap the accrued hours at 72 hours, set a higher cap or set no cap at all.

Employers who already offer 48 hours of paid time off, intended for sickness, personal time or vacation would not need to increase the amount of paid sick leave to their workers.

Owners of Shish Mediterranean restaurant in Studio City said the proposal presents more challenges and customers will always end up paying.

"It's going to make us raise our prices little bit up at least a few percent. And that's how we're going to close the gap I think," Umit Sahilli said. "It's going to cost everybody, not just business owners, but customers."

The city attorney still needs to craft wording for the ordinance and bring the draft back to the City Council for a second round of discussion.

In order to meet the intended deadline of July 1, the ordinance language would need to be approved by May.

A proposal by Councilman David Ryu to exempt small businesses from the expanded paid sick leave mandate was rejected 8-6 by the council.