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| The mandatory sick leave law will go into effect next July. Image: Shutterstock.com |
On Monday, July 28, the Eugene City Council approved a
mandatory sick leave law with a 5-3 vote.
The law requires employers to provide workers with one hour of sick
leave for every thirty hours of work, with a maximum of forty hours a year. The law will apply to both businesses and
nonprofits and will likely go into effect next July.
The law also affects employers outside the city limits whose
employees work at least six weeks a year in Eugene.
Though other cities, including Seattle, Portland, and San
Francisco, have already passed similar laws, Eugene is the smallest city in the
nation to do so.
Proponents of the law argue that it will protect low-income
individuals who can’t afford to stay home when they or their family members are
sick. Councilor
Alan Zelenka called the measure “family friendly and worker friendly.”
Critics in Eugene are concerned that the law will add to
business costs and be difficult to implement.
In fact, a small
study done a year after Seattle implemented a similar law did show that
putting the law into effect has been confusing and time-consuming for affected
businesses, though the financial effect seems to be minimal.
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