Earned Paid Sick Leave: The Quick Rundown

UPDATED! 
​Originally published 1/2/2019; updated 2/8/2019
Changes/additions in red.

On January 8, 2019 the Health and Human Services & Public Safety Committee (HHS & PS) held another public hearing on the proposed Earned Paid Sick Leave ordinance. Here's a quick rundown of the ordinance's main points, including changes that were made at the January 8th meeting after the hearing.

Psst! If you want to get into the weeds, check out my Section by Section Guide to the January 2019 Draft. And please, after you've looked through the information, come tell us what you think on January 8th.

According to the current draft of the Earned Paid Sick Leave ordinance: 

Employers in Portland must:

• Allow employees to earn a minimum of 1 hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked.
• Let employees know, at least monthly, how much EPSL time they have accrued, how much they have used for the year, and how much they have been paid for it.

Employees in Portland can:

• Earn up to 72 hours of sick time each year.
• Use up to 40 hours of their earned time each year. (Adjusted on January 8th from 48 hours.)
• ​Begin accruing paid sick time from their first day of work.
• Begin using their accrued time on their 45th day of employment.
• Request the city's assistance if an employer is not following the ordinance.
• Take employers who violate the ordinance to court.

Employers in Portland can:

• Be more generous than the ordinance mandates.
• Continue doing what they're doing and awarding PTO or EPSL the way they have in the past if they're already meeting the standards of the ordinance.
• Use one of three different methods for the tracking and accrual of EPSL. (All three are outlined in the ordinance.)
• Require employees to certify that they are using EPSL for approved purposes using a form developed by the City.
• Wait to pay employees for any EPSL that is taken during an employee's last two weeks of work until the employee has certified that the leave was taken for an acceptable reason using one of the methods outlined in the ordinance. 

Sick Time IS:

Time used to care for oneself or a family member in the case of illness or injury; diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of an adverse health condition; or situations associated with leave granted to victims of violence by Maine state law.

Sick Time ISN'T:

Vacation time, leisure time, personal time, "me" time, or time that can be "cashed out" if it isn't taken for approved purposes. 

Exceptions:

• Employees who work fewer than 60 hours for an employer in a benefit year.
• Per diem workers who satisfy five very specific criteria outlined in the ordinance, including that they only work when they choose to work, they are paid a higher rate as per diem employees, they are licensed in particular fields, and they work at health care facilities.
• New businesses, for one year from the date they hire their first employee.
• To be considered on February 12th: work study students or people who are earning money or educational credits as part of a financial aid package or job training program.

One Last Thing

I still anticipate a few changes to the ordinance at the committee level before we are ready to make a recommendation to the Council. As I've been working on these blog posts, I've found a few instances of problematic language that need some cleaning up. I also expect that I and other committee members may have changes we wish to make depending upon what we hear and read from people in the next couple of weeks.

So please: weigh in.

At present, my guess is that the committee will be ready to make a recommendation and forward this ordinance on to the Council at one of our February meetings. Check back here for updates. I'll do my best to keep you posted.

​And finally: thanks to everyone who has been involved in the process to date. It takes a village to write a good ordinance. :-)