All D.C. businesses will be required to provide paid sick leave under legislation unanimously approved Tuesday by the D.C. Council.
The District follows only San Francisco in guaranteeing sick leave for about 200,000 workers who have none, though the D.C. bill goes further by allowing leave for recovery from domestic violence or sexual abuse.
Jaime Contreras, director of Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, described the step as “bold and important.”
Under the measure, businesses with 100 or more employees must provide seven sick days annually, those with 25 to 99 employees five days and those with 24 or fewer employees three.
“Government has often stepped up when it appears that workers are being taken advantage of,” said at-large Councilwoman Carol Schwartz, who steered the controversial bill through the council.
The legislation was watered down as seven council members banded together to back a half-dozen changes proposed by the D.C. Chamber of Commerce. Lobbying behind the scenes was furious.
Among the amendments: Employees must be on the job a year before earning paid sick time; businesses may apply for an economic hardship waiver; employer penalties will be capped at $1,000 per calendar year; and health care workers and waitstaff, those who work for minimum wage and tips, were pulled from the bill.
Barbara Lang, president of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce, said the law equates to a 3 percent “employment tax.” The council’s amendments “mitigated some of that risk,” she said, though this is still not the time “to burden the business community and make us less competitive with Maryland and Virginia.”
Mayor Adrian Fenty will sign the bill, a spokeswoman said.
