Are labor unions trying to turn San Antonio into San Francisco? A coalition calling itself Working Texans for Paid Sick Time has collected signatures for a ballot measure that would require all San Antonio businesses to offer paid sick leave — a workplace mandate that first took root in California’s famously liberal “City by the Bay.” The coalition’s folksy name belies big-dollar backers like the Texas Organizing Project, which […]

No one questions the necessity of basic workplace protections that keep employees safe. But what happens when minor compliance or technical errors, like a missed lunch break or misclassified information on a paystub, become multi-million dollar liabilities for small employers? Such is the status quo under California’s Private Attorneys General Act, known colloquially as the “sue your boss” law. PAGA allows employees to sue their employer […]

At the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this week, the party will rally behind a platform that calls for seven days of paid sick leave for all employees. The party is responding to the actions of a handful of cities and states (including California), who now require private employers to provide the benefit. Supporters of a workplace sick leave mandate argue that “everybody benefits” – employees, […]

On September 1st, Seattle will recognize the one-year anniversary of its first-in-the-northwest mandatory paid leave law. Proponents—including Councilmember Nick Licata and Mayor Mike McGinn—will no doubt take the opportunity to praise the law whose passage they strongly advocated. But  a new study suggests that it hasn’t been the cure-all that the city was promised. Following Seattle’s law taking effect just under a year ago, the Employment […]

Last month, Portland, OR, became the fourth US city (after San Francisco, Washington, DC, and Seattle) to require employers to provide paid time off as a condition of doing business in the city. New York City is poised to become the fifth starting next year. Now, Representative Rosa DeLauro (whose home state of Connecticut was the first in the country to require employers to provide this benefit) […]

Flu season has activists from the Massachusetts Paid Leave Coalition working overtime to ensure that they don’t miss a golden chance to argue for a statewide mandatory sick leave law. They’re supported by Reps. Kay Khan (D-Newton) and Jason Lewis (D-Winchester), who last month filed a bill that would grant this new benefit to most Massachusetts employees. Before rushing ahead with a new mandate, policy makers […]