City of Dallas Paid Sick Leave Ordinance enforcement and fines go into effect on April 1, 2020 for large employers (6+ employees).
If you have been keeping up with all the paid sick leave ordinances around the country and here in Texas, you know they are all over the place. Here in Texas, Cities of San Antonio, Austin and Dallas have all passed ordinances requiring employers to provide their employees (full-time and part-time) paid sick leave. When all three ordinances passed, they were almost exactly the same. When San Antonio passed their revised ordinance last fall, it was quite a bit different from the Austin and Dallas ordinances.
As a reminder if you have not been staying up to date with the Paid Sick Leave ordinances, here is a quick recap:
- Dallas – currently implemented and go into enforcement on April, 1, 2020
- Third city to pass the ordinance and first to go into effect on August 1, 2019. There is a lawsuit pending right now regarding the ordinance.
- Requires employers with 6 or more employees to provide one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked up to 64 hours in a year and for employers with 5 or less employees a maximum of 48 hours per year.
- A small employer is considered 5 or less employees and the ordinance doesn’t go into effect until August 1, 2021.
- Covers time for personal illness, doctor’s appointments, dependent and family member’s illnesses and doctor’s appointments, and the employee’s need to seek medical attention, relocation and court/legal matters that involve stalking, domestic abuse, and trafficking. This also applies to the employee’s family members. The ordinance does not cover mental injury.
- Companies do not have to be inside the city limits of Dallas but if any of their employees work at least 80 hours in a year within the Dallas city limits, that employee is eligible.
- Companies have to provide certain notifications (monthly and in the handbook) and posters to their employees regarding the ordinance.
- Companies that do not comply could be fined up to $500 per issue.
- Enforcement and fines go into effect on April 1, 2020.
- Austin – currently not in effect and waiting for the Texas Supreme Court ruling
- The City of Austin was the first to pass a Paid Sick Leave Ordinance in 2018.
- Requires employers with 15 or more employees to provide one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked up to 64 hours in a year and for employers with less than 15 employees a maximum of 48 hours per year.
- Same ordinance and standards as City of Dallas besides:
- The definition of small and large employers and
- The Austin ordinance covers mental injury as well as mental illness.
- Companies that do not comply could be fined up to $500 per issue.
- San Antonio – currently not in effect and waiting on district court to hear case
- The City of San Antonio was the second city to pass an ordinance and the original ordinance was identical to the Austin ordinance.
- In November of 2019 and injunction was issued to stop the implementation of the ordinance.
- The new ordinance that is waiting to be implemented changed drastically.
- There is no delineation between small and large employers. It includes all employers.
- For employers outside of the city limits, it only applies to employees who work at least half of their time and at least 240 hours inside the city limits.
- Employees accrue up to 56 hours annually with the same 1 hour for each 30 hours worked.
- The paid sick leave ordinance covers the same reasons for time off, notifications, and fines as the City of Austin ordinance.
- Companies that do not comply could be fined up to $500 per issue.
If you are located in the City of Dallas or have employees that occasionally work in the city limits of Dallas, make sure you are preparing for implementation of this ordinance. You can call us to help get your handbook updated, posters ready, and communication strategy developed to notify your employees.
Resources
Dallas Paid Sick Leave Website