Internet Explorer 11 is not supported

For optimal browsing, we recommend Chrome, Firefox or Safari browsers.

A Second Texas City Mandates Paid Sick Leave

San Antonio joined Austin Thursday to become the second city in Texas to require private employers to provide paid sick leave.

By Philip Jankowski

San Antonio joined Austin Thursday to become the second city in Texas to require private employers to provide paid sick leave.

The city council there chose to adopt a paid sick leave ordinance outright after more than 144,000 signatures were gathered to force an election on requiring employers to provide all employees paid sick leave, according to the San Antonio Express-News and a news release from the advocacy group Working Texans for Paid Sick Time.

The San Antonio ordinance mirrors Austin's paid sick leave rules, which the Austin City Council approved on Feb. 16. Like Austin, employers more than 15 workers must provide at most eight days of paid sick leave a year for full-time employees. Small businesses with 15 or fewer employees will be capped at providing six paid sick days.

Dallas has also flirted with a paid sick leave ordinance, but organizers there fell short of gathering enough signatures to force a vote, according to the Dallas Morning News. That effort appears stalled.

Austin's paid sick leave ordinance takes effect on Oct. 1.

Business groups represented by the Texas Public Policy Foundation and Attorney General Ken Paxton have sought to undo Austin's paid sick leave ordinance in the courtroom. Their efforts have been unsuccessful so far.

State lawmakers are also taking aim at Austin paid sick leave ordinance. While the conservative body has long made it a habit of undoing Austin's progressive policies, San Antonio's new ordinance means that legislators next year will face to fronts if they follow through on threats to preempt paid sick leave mandates.

(c)2018 Austin American-Statesman, Texas

Special Projects