Seattle has granted everlasting sick and secure depart for gig employees.
These advantages have been in place since 2020, however had been set to run out on April 30, 2023. The brand new advantages—recognized collectively as Paid Sick and Secure Time Ordinance (PSST)—are actually everlasting. They handed this week in a unanimous vote by the Metropolis Council.
With these protections, gig employees can “accrue paid depart to take care of themselves or a member of the family’s well being, go to physician’s appointments, get better at residence with out dropping a day’s pay, maintain their kids within the occasion of a faculty closure, and so forth.,” the Metropolis Council says.
This transfer additionally expands protection to extra employees—not simply the meals supply drivers specified by pandemic-era guidelines. “We wish to guarantee everybody has the time to get effectively, get better, and assist members of their household once they’re sick—whether or not you ship dinner, drop off laundry, or present any service on these apps,” says Councilmember Teresa Mosquedda, the invoice’s sponsor.
The invoice applies to firms with 250 or extra app-based employees worldwide. Affected companies are required to create accessible methods for checking and requesting PSST; employees accrue someday of sick depart (based mostly on common every day compensation) for each 30 days labored, which should embody stops in Seattle.
The brand new legislation goes into impact for meals supply firms on Might 1, 2023, and for different app-based employees coated within the laws beginning on Jan. 13, 2024.
“A wholesome workforce results in a wholesome neighborhood, and nobody ought to have to decide on between taking a sick day to take care of themselves—or their households—and making hire,” Mayor Bruce Harrell mentioned in a press release. “Gig employees stepped as much as serve our metropolis throughout the pandemic and are a necessary a part of our workforce and economic system, and this necessary laws ensures the rights of our app-based employees stay protected.”
