Emergency sick leave policy proposed
The ordinance would cover any employee working within the city
In an effort to support San Jose’s low-wage workforce, San Jose officials on Wednesday proposed an emergency paid sick leave policy that would provide extra protection for any essential employee in the city who still is working and affected by the growing coronavirus crisis.
“The point of this is to provide assurance so that any employee who is facing that choice — of knowing they’re either going to have to stay home and forgo a paycheck or show up at work, potentially affecting others — make the right decision and stay home,” Mayor Sam Liccardo said during a council committee meeting Wednesday.
Under San Jose’s proposed ordinance, any business that is allowed to keep operating under the county and state’s stay-at-home mandates would be required to provide employees affected by the coronavirus with an immediate 40 hours of sick leave and an additional hour for ev
ery two hours worked — up to 80 hours of sick leave.
Businesses that already provide employees with at least 160 hours — including paid time off and vacation — would be exempt. It would not apply to businesses that already have closed because of the stayat-home order.
San Jose officials say that the local ordinance would fill in gaps created by federal sick leave legislation passed by Congress earlier this month — dubbed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. The federal regulation covers only employees in private-sector companies with fewer than 500 personnel as well as government staff. It also provides potential exemptions for businesses of fewer than 50 employees.
“This is an issue of enormous magnitude, and we cannot wait,” Council member Maya Esparza said during the meeting. “As usual, it falls on us as local government, and we need to do this as soon as possible.”
Last week, Council members Esparza, Sylvia Arenas and Magdalena Carrasco first introduced a paid sick leave policy — modeled after similar ordinances in San Diego, San Francisco and Oakland — that would have provided workers up to 80 hours of paid sick time, not only during the extent of the coronavirus crisis but permanently. That suggestion was rejected by the majority of the council’s rules committee before opting for the new, temporary legislation.
The City Council will take a final vote to enact the proposed paid sick leave policy at a meeting in two weeks.
“We all represent hundreds of thousands of residents and they’re reliant on us to make sure that the essential services that remain open are a safe environment, and we can’t guarantee
that if people aren’t offered sick paid leave,” Arenas said.
The city’s proposed emergency ordinance would go far beyond state law, which requires businesses to provide 24 hours of paid sick leave to employees, and further than permanent ordinances in other California cities, which at most provide 72 hours.
To qualify for the city’s proposed emergency sick leave protections, an employee must be under a quarantine or isolation order or experiencing symptoms related to COVID-19, caring for an individual with a suspected or confirmed case of the coronavirus or watching a child whose school has been closed while the stay-athome order is in place.
Council member Johnny Khamis, who voted against the proposed ordinance during the committee meeting Wednesday, said he would support it only if businesses with fewer than 50 employees were exempt,
citing concerns about “unintended consequences.”
“After this regulation, we might not have any (small businesses open downtown),” he said. “Because it would be easier to not comply with this and shut down because they’re not making that much money anyway.”
Some business owners and business advocacy groups echoed Khamis’ concern that the ordinance could pose additional threats to businesses already struggling during this crisis.
The California Restaurant Association and the region’s largest chamber of commerce, the Silicon Valley Organization, both urged the council in letters this week to reject the proposal.
“Instead of creating new unnecessary sick paid leave employment mandates, we urge you to consider measures to help restaurants, such as eviction protections and delayed licensing and fee payments,” Katie Hansen, senior legislative director
for the California Restaurant Association, wrote in a letter to the council.
Ron Benson, a chiropractor in San Jose, said his business at his practice has declined 70% in the past two weeks and the proposed legislation could force him into a greater financial hole.
“I ask you to really not just consider the people who are out of work and need sick pay,” Benson said. “But please take into account the whole business environment. We cannot provide for people if this is mandated.”
As of Wednesday, more than 2,500 cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed in California — 459 of which are in Santa Clara County. About 67,000 coronavirus tests have been conducted in the state — the vast majority of which are still pending results, according to Gov. Gavin Newson. And, more than 1 million Californians have filed for unemployment insurance this month amid layoffs
or reduced hours from the pandemic, Newsom said.
It’s the second coronavirus-related emergency ordinance that the city has considered in recent weeks.
Earlier this month, the city passed a moratorium of the eviction of tenants affected by the coronavirus, which was closely followed closely by similar moratoriums in more than a dozen cities and counties around the Bay Area, including Palo Alto, Santa Clara County and San Francisco. San Jose also plans to discuss an eviction moratorium for small businesses in the coming weeks.
On Wednesday, Oakland workers’ rights group East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy urged all Bay Area cities to pass emergency legislation — similar to what San Jose has proposed — that would guarantee 14 days of paid sick leave for every employee in the region, including those here illegally, during the public health crisis.