Employers Must Provide 40 Hours of Paid Sick Leave for COVID-19
Effective March 9, 2022 through December 31, 2023, Philadelphia employers with 25 or more employees must provide up to 40 hours of additional paid sick leave (“COVID-19 leave”) to eligible employees when they are unable to work due to certain COVID-19 related reasons, including:
- Caring for themselves or a family member exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19;
- Caring for themselves or a family member exposed to COVID-19 in order to self-isolate;
- Childcare or school closure;
- Receipt of a COVID-19 test or vaccine or recovery from illness, injury, or disability related to vaccination.
COVID-19 leave must be provided outside of and before using eligible employees’ existing accrued paid time off banks, unless state or federal law requires otherwise. COVID-19 leave must also be provided to employees immediately with no waiting period. Employers are permitted only to request a self-certified statement from the employee asserting that leave was for COVID-19 leave purposes.
If a covered employer has an existing leave policy that provides at least 120 hours of paid time off (or 112.5 hours of paid time off for a covered employer whose full-time workforce works a 37.5 hour work week) that can be used under the same conditions and for the same purposes as COVID-19 leave, the covered employer may not be required to provide additional paid COVID-19 leave. For employees who complete the majority of their work responsibilities through telework, employers who provide teleworking employees with at least 80 hours of paid time off that can be used under the same conditions and for the same purposes as COVID-19 leave may not be required to provide additional paid COVID-19 leave.
The full-text of this ordinance can be found here, along with the required notice to employees.
