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Josephs joins Philadelphia push for paid sick leave

Says she'll co-sponsor bill in Pa. House requiring paid sick leave for workers

PHILADELPHIA, April 12 – State Rep. Babette Josephs today joined members of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now and fellow Philadelphia legislators at a morning event at City Hall to encourage Philadelphia City Council to adopt a resolution calling on the General Assembly to require employers in Pennsylvania to provide paid sick leave to their employees.

Josephs also announced that she will co-sponsor legislation soon to be introduced in the House of Representatives that would allow all workers in Pennsylvania to accrue paid sick leave based on the number of hours they work in a week.

"Thousands of Pennsylvania workers do not have paid sick leave of any kind," Josephs said. "That leaves these workers with the option of going to work sick or not getting paid.

"What's worse, it leaves many workers, particularly single parents, facing an even more difficult choice: collecting a day's pay or taking care of a sick child.

"Most single parents and other workers cannot afford to make either choice. Providing paid sick leave as a part of the compensation that workers earn for showing up on the job every day is not too much to ask of this state's employers, and it's long past time for Pennsylvania to enact this kind of pro-family legislation."

Josephs said the bill she is co-sponsoring would allow employees to accrue one hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours on the job up to a maximum of 52 hours of sick leave each year.

Small businesses employing less than 10 workers would have to provide sick leave at a rate of one hour for each 80 hours worked up to a maximum of 26 hours a year.

Employees would be permitted to use paid sick leave to seek diagnosis or care for their own illness or injury, or for a spouse, child, parent, grandparent or other family member.

"Philadelphia's Healthy Families, Healthy Workplace resolution sends an important message about what is good not just for workers and employers in the state's largest city, but also for workers and their employers across Pennsylvania," Josephs said. "Workers who are on the job sick, or who are preoccupied with the medical problems of their children and other relatives, are unproductive, often spread illness to others in the workplace and, in the long run, end up costing their employers and our economy more money in the long run.

"That's why I support the Healthy Families, Healthy Workplace resolution, and why I want to turn that call into a new state law that gives our workers and their families the paid sick leave benefits they need and deserve."

Josephs said Philadelphia City Council is scheduled to vote on the resolution, introduced by Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds-Brown, later this month. She said she expects the House legislation to be introduced soon.