Nutter to sign city’s first earned sick leave bill

Paid sick leave for Philadelphia workers is on its way.

A bill to mandate that Philly businesses provide employees paid sick days passed City Council this morning after a 14-2 vote. Mayor Michael Nutter will sign the bill at 2 p.m. today, he announced this afternoon.

The Council last passed sick-leave bills in 2011 and 2013. Nutter vetoed those bills saying he was concerned they could dent a slow economic recovery.

Nutter changed his mind last year after a panel he convened recommended in December companies provide paid sick leave.

“Mayor Nutter believes that the time for paid sick leave has come,” his chief of staff, Everett Gillison, testified at a hearing on this bill earlier this month.

Councilman Bill Greenlee sponsored the bill, which guarantees workers one hour of paid sick leave for every 40-hour week worked — or approximately five days a year.

Philly is the second city after Tacoma, Washington to pass a paid sick leave bill this year — something President Barack Obama called for in his 2015 State of the Union address.

“This is a good day for Philadelphians and for the effort to ensure that all workers in this country have this basic right,” Debra L. Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families said in a statement.

The bill will take effect in 90 days.