A proposal to require employers to provide as many as 12 days of paid leave to workers could be left out of a plan to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour, amid mounting outcry over the provision’s late inclusion in the wage plan.
The paid leave provision would be removed from the minimum wage plan headed to the City Council on Tuesday for a vote so further study could be done on it, council aides said.
Council President Herb Wesson, Councilman Curren Price and Councilman Paul Krekorian will ask city staff to report back on June 23 with recommendations for a citywide paid leave policy modeled on ones adopted in San Francisco, Oakland and other cities.
Krekorian said in a statement that sick leave is “an important issue for all working families in Los Angeles and, like the minimum wage policy,” a paid leave policy “deserves thoughtful deliberation and thorough study.”
Wesson assured the City Council vote will still vote Tuesday on whether to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour in Los Angeles, and stressed he other council members will continue to pursue a paid leave policy.
“While the state law on sick leave is well-intentioned it is inadequate for working Angelenos and I’m collaborating with my colleagues to put a city policy on the books,” he said.
The three council members are part of the Economic Development Committee that on Wednesday advanced the paid leave policy as part of a larger minimum wage hike plan to the full City Council.
The paid leave proposal calls for the creation of a policy that would be “consistent” with those included in past wage laws in Los Angeles. Previous city wage laws, which mostly applied to hotel workers, require employers to provide at least 12 days of paid sick leave.
The about-face came after the policy prompted criticism from the business community, with a powerful Los Angeles area business chamber issuing a statement today questioning if city leaders could be trusted after the provision was slipped into the minimum wage plan at the last minute without much debate.
Gary Toebben, president of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, said the paid leave provision “was not discussed in public session,” and compared its addition to the wage hike plan on Wednesday to backroom dealings associated with state and federal legislative bodies.
“This may happen in Sacramento or Washington, D.C., but it should never happen in Los Angeles,” Toebben said. “For business, this action creates a lack of trust in the City Council.”
Toebben’s statements add to criticism from another business chamber, the Valley Industry & Commerce Association, which described the paid leave provision as being “snuck in” at the “11th hour.”
Mayor Eric Garcetti also expressed concern the idea has not been analyzed enough and called for it to “be studied and peer-reviewed like the rest of the proposal.”
Supporters of the paid leave policy say it has been part of a series of demands calling for a higher minimum wage in Los Angeles. Rusty Hicks, who heads the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and the Raise the Wage coalition, said they have been asking for a paid leave provision from “day one” of their campaign to raise the minimum wage.
“When hardworking people are forced to choose between paying their rent or staying at home when they’re sick, they’ll choose the former,” Hicks said. “This hurts the health of workers, their families, and the public, including customers. For a low-income family without paid sick days, going just 3.5 days without wages is the equivalent to losing a month’s groceries.”
He said other cities that have adopted city wage laws, such as San Diego and Oakland, also require employers to offer paid leave and have done so “successfully.”
— City News Service