Sherry Leiwant,
LET THE BATTLES BEGIN: THE MAYORAL RACE IS ON
NY TIMES
New York is poised to mandate that companies with 15 or more employees provide paid time off for them when they are sick.
A compromise agreement reached Thursday night resulted from a raw display of political muscle by a coalition of labor unions and liberal activists who overcame fierce objections from New York’s business-minded mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg, and his allies in the corporate world.
The agreement required a high-profile concession from a leading candidate to succeed Mr. Bloomberg. The candidate, Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker, had single-handedly blocked action on the sick-leave issue for three years, arguing that it would inflict damage on the city’s fragile economy.
The compromise legislation would eventually force firms with at least 15 employees to give workers five compensated days off when they are ill, a requirement that advocates said would allow much of the city’s labor force to stay home from work without fear of losing a day’s wage — or worse, a job. The advocates said the legislation would provide paid sick leave for one million New Yorkers who do not currently have such benefits.
But to the disappointment of those who pushed for a more sweeping version of the legislation, New York City’s mandate would not take effect until spring 2014, and for the first 18 months, it would apply only to businesses with 20 or more employees, according to people involved in the negotiations.
The measure is subject to a vote by the City Council, but a majority of Council members have already indicated they support paid sick leave legislation. Mr. Bloomberg is expected to veto the measure, but there is enough support on the Council to override his veto.
Under the legislation, companies exempt from the requirement because of their low number of employees would have to offer workers five days of unpaid sick leave.
Whether the sick leave is paid or unpaid, firms will be legally forbidden from firing workers for taking such time off.
In a provision designed to placate the city’s corporate leaders, the sick-leave requirement would be suspended should the city’s economy significantly erode, as measured by a financial index kept by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Sherry Leiwant, co-president of A Better Balance, an advocacy group involved in the negotiations, called the deal “important for the public health of the city.”