After Midnight, On February 16th, the Austin, TX city Council approved an ordinance establishing a paid sick leave requirement. This requirement applies to all private employers located within the Ci
ty of Austin. The Mayor is expected to sign the ordinance. This will have Austin joining the growing lists of cities and states requiring mandatory sick leave. But before the City Clerk has even had the chance to verify the approved language and post the finalized ordinance, the state legislature began rumblings that they will take steps to curtail the Austin ordinance in its next session.
The Texas Tribune is reporting that just hours after the bill was passed state Rep. Paul Workman, R-Austin sounded off against the bill, saying the ordinance is “declaring war” on small private businesses. According to Workman, “It’s not the role of the government to mandate for employers to do this”. This again is going to come to a show-down between local control of the cities versus control in the state capital. Something that organizations like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) have made good use out of to curtail the sick leave movement. We can only stay tuned to see how the show-down plays out in the state legislature.