Austin’s paid sick leave ordinance a first in Texas

Just before 1 a.m. Friday, the Austin City Council voted in what could be described as the most progressive labor policy for the entire state and possibly the American South.

At the behest of Council Member Greg Casar, the council made Austin the first city in Texas to require private employers to provide paid sick leave, a move that quickly garnered national attention in both kudos and criticism.

The highly anticipated vote came after more than 200 people testified at City Hall, with the total discussion and debate lasting more than five hours. It passed 9-2, with Council Members Ora Houston and Ellen Troxclair against.

WHAT’S NEXT: Legislature expected to weigh in on Austin sick leave rules

For Casar, a longtime workers’ rights advocate, the ordinance’s passage is a signature accomplishment that came after a coalition of progressive groups assembled to push for it. Advocates said about 37 percent of the workers in Austin, including large numbers of service industry and construction workers, don’t have paid sick leave.

“I think this was a big victory for public health and workers’ rights in the city, and just as important a victory for progressive politics of Texas and the South,” Casar told the American-Statesman on Friday. “This would not have passed without a strong majority on the council and the election of progressive pro-worker (council members).”

The 12:40 a.m. vote, which was greeted with thunderous applause and the singing of union songs, was also an exercise in compromise. Casar slightly watered down his original ordinance, by scaling back the required number of paid sick days for small businesses, to address the concerns of Council Member Jimmy Flannigan, who earlier appeared to be a likely vote against the ordinance.

The ordinance requires most private employers to provide each worker up to 64 hours, or eight eight-hour work days, of paid sick leave per year. The compromise set a lower cap of 48 hours of paid sick leave per year for small businesses with 15 or fewer employees.

MORE: Q&A: What you need to know about Austin’s paid sick leave ordinance

But the final ordinance did not include an exemption for so-called micro-businesses with five or fewer employees. Flannigan had authored a substitute ordinance that included that exemption. But after Casar posted his amended ordinance on Thursday and lowered the cap for small businesses, Flannigan signaled he would support it, despite some lingering misgivings.

“At the end of the day, this democratic process, for it to work, requires that type of compromise and collaboration … (though) I completely agree (it) has been too fast and has been unfair to some of my colleagues,” Flannigan told the council early Friday. “But I am still going to support this ordinance tonight.”

Micro-businesses still will be required to give paid sick leave to their employees, but not until October 2020. Council Member Alison Alter also proposed exempting all nonprofit employers until October 2019, but that amendment did not pass.

Troxclair, the council’s lone conservative, tried to create an exemption for all businesses with fewer than 15 employees “even though I know it is pointless,” she said. Before the vote, she said it was those small businesses that made Austin’s culture so unique. It failed.

“They are the ones that are going to be disproportionately hurt by this ordinance because they don’t have the flexibility they need to respect their workers and run their businesses,” Troxclair said.

COMMENTARY: Austin’s paid sick leave plan is rushed. No wonder it’s unfair

Houston said she voted no because of the rushed process to adopt the ordinance — Casar posted the proposed language less than a month ago — and because she believed business owners were not adequately included in the ordinance’s creation. Like Troxclair, she seemed most concerned about the ordinance’s effect on small businesses.

“I don’t know how anyone can say that for all 33,000 businesses this isn’t going to have some negative impact and some unintended consequences,” Houston said.

It will be up to the city to investigate any complaints of violations of the ordinance, which requires employers to give one hour of paid sick leave per 30 hours worked. The city will allow employers found in violation to voluntarily come within compliance. If they refuse, they could face a $500 fine.

City staff estimated that implementing the ordinance could cost $460,000 a year to hire three to six staff members and find office space.

State law prohibits the policy from applying to government employees, making a large swath of Austin’s workforce exempt to the ordinance, including more than 2,000 temporary employees who work for the city of Austin and currently do not get any sick pay.

However, Casar said Friday that the council will vote on a resolution March 1 to begin providing paid sick leave to temporary city workers on Oct. 1, when the ordinance takes effect for everyone else.

People signed up by the dozens Thursday to speak on the ordinance. A large majority were in favor.

Tyler Jordan, an employee at Kerbey Lane Cafe, said several of his co-workers felt “betrayed” by the restaurant chain’s CEO Mason Ayer’s editorial against the ordinance published in the Statesman on Jan. 31.

“They didn’t show up because they were afraid they might get fired or face other negative repercussions for coming here to give testimony publicly, that they wouldn’t be able to make ends meet if they lost their jobs,” Jordan said. “That is the same kind of fear these employees face every time they get sick.”

Business owners from Chez Zee American Bistro, the County Line, Quality Sea Food and others testified against the ordinance. Others from the Austin Independent Business Alliance read from a list of 137 businesses against the ordinance, including Amy’s Ice Cream, Toy Joy, BookPeople, Guero’s Taco Bar and Roger Beasley Automotive group.

“The people calling in sick could be sick, they could be having a mental illness day, they could be having a friend who is having a mental illness day,” Chez Zee owner Sharon Watkins said. “On Sunday morning at 8 o’ clock, I bet there is a lot of mental illness going on in Austin, Texas. I have to just say ‘OK’ and pay.”

The speakers for the ordinance included some star power in former Fort Worth state Sen. Wendy Davis, who is now an Austin resident. Davis spoke about the “unique impact” unpaid sick leave has on women, alluding to Texas’ road blocks toward obtaining an abortion, and said that Austin is proving to be a progressive leader in the deep red South.

“From leading the way on climate change protections, to proactively and creatively addressing affordable housing solutions, to fighting for the safety of your immigrant community … you have continually led the way and set an example for other cities in this state and honestly across the country for what good governance looks like,” Davis said.