By Hailey Konnath

Law360 (September 21, 2020, 7:43 PM EDT ) Thousands of Philadelphia workers are now eligible for two weeks of paid sick leave under the Public Health Emergency Leave bill adopted last week, a measure city council members said was necessary to fill gaps left by federal leave laws in the midst of COVID-19.

The bill amends the city's paid sick leave law to extend paid sick leave to workers who physically report to their jobs in health care and the gig economy, contract workers, nannies and employees of businesses with more than 500 employees, according to the measure.

In a statement Friday, employment and labor firm Littler Mendelson PC noted that the law applies to any public health emergency declared by the federal, state or local government. Notably, the law also applies to both employers and "hiring entities," the firm said.

Under the measure, individuals who work 40 hours a week or more are entitled to 80 hours of leave or an amount equal to their average hours worked over a two-week period, whichever is greater. Those workers can use a maximum of 112 hours of leave, according to the law. And those who work fewer than 40 hours a week can take an amount of leave equal to the amount of hours they worked on average in a 14-day period, per the law.

The measure "takes a unique approach" when individuals work for multiple hiring entities, as is the case for contractors or delivery workers, the firm said.

"The mayor's Office of Labor must establish a centralized system for calculating PHEL attributed to each hiring entity, then collect PHEL funds from hiring entities and distribute them to covered workers," Littler said. "However, until that system is established, an individual is entitled to PHEL from each hiring entity for whom the individual performed work during the public health work period according to forthcoming regulations."

Philadelphia's city council voted to approve the bill 16-1, and Mayor Jim Kenney signed it into law Sept. 17. The regulations took effect immediately.

In a statement last week, the city council said that though the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act created some emergency sick time provisions for workers, an estimated 3 million workers in Pennsylvania were excluded from those protections.

"As Philadelphia businesses continue to reopen, and as fall weather will soon force community members inside, these worker protections arrive at a critical time," the council said.

The law means workers can more easily self-quarantine and stay home if they've been exposed to COVID-19 or when they feel sick, according to the council's statement. It also allows workers to care for a family member or stay home with a child if child care facilities or schools close because of the pandemic, the council said.

Women and people of color are overrepresented in fields that require in-person work in Pennsylvania, and they make significantly less on average than workers in fields that allow for remote work, the council added. The council noted that the vulnerabilities of front-line workers have contributed to "glaring disparities" in COVID-19 cases in Philadelphia, where Black individuals are more than twice as likely than white individuals to contract COVID-19.

"As families across Philadelphia grapple with the economic impact of COVID-19, Public Health Emergency Leave is critical to combating the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on communities of color and ensuring that workers who support their families are not losing life-sustaining wages should they fall ill," the council said.

Councilmember Kendra Brooks introduced the bill in May. In the council's statement, Brooks said stronger worker protections are paramount to continuing to reopen the city's economy safely.

"For too long, low-wage workers of color have kept our city running during a global pandemic with little more than public displays of gratitude to show for it in return," Brooks said.

She added, "This victory is for them."

Littler noted Friday that it is "unclear when regulations or guidance concerning either new requirement will issue." The firm urged employers and hiring entities to immediately review and potentially revise their policies to ensure they comply with Philadelphia's new requirements.

The U.S. Department of Labor released a rule in early April setting standards for implementing the emergency paid leave mandate and attempting to resolve ambiguities in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act's text. In addition to fleshing out the eligibility triggers, the rule also clarified exemptions for small businesses and health care employers, among other things.

But the rule ran into legal hurdles, with a New York federal judge saying the agency didn't justify parts of the regulation in an August ruling that granted partial summary judgment to the state of New York, which sued to expand the rule.

Earlier this month, the DOL issued regulations laying out who qualifies for emergency paid sick leave under the FFCRA, reaffirming the agency's stance that leave can be taken "only if the employee has work from which to take leave."

Also this month, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill broadening workers' access to paid sick leave, giving all California workers who test positive for COVID-19 or who have been exposed to the virus access to paid sick time for the rest of the year.

--Additional reporting by Vin Gurrieri and Emily Brill. Editing by Breda Lund.

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