[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/univista.com\/posts\/ping-austins-sick-leave-ordinance\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/univista.com\/posts\/ping-austins-sick-leave-ordinance\/","headline":"The Ping: Austin’s Sick Leave Ordinance","name":"The Ping: Austin’s Sick Leave Ordinance","description":"ShareTweet I\u2019m sure you heard that on February 16th Austin\u2019s City Council passed a sick leave ordinance scheduled to go into effect on October 1st. We, like all the other Austin-based small businesses needed to know how this was going to impact us. This is what we found out:   Businesses with more than 15 […]","datePublished":"2018-02-23","dateModified":"2018-02-23","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/univista.com\/posts\/author\/corie-bogan\/#Person","name":"Corie Bogan","url":"https:\/\/univista.com\/posts\/author\/corie-bogan\/","identifier":5,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1cc33ae534ef31a23f9281fa0d638eb45e31ff2282dc8fabaf8cec72af5f1961?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1cc33ae534ef31a23f9281fa0d638eb45e31ff2282dc8fabaf8cec72af5f1961?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"UniVista","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/univista.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Univista-Logo-e1522352689794.png","url":"https:\/\/univista.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Univista-Logo-e1522352689794.png","width":600,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/univista.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Ping-Logo-300x126.png","url":"https:\/\/univista.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Ping-Logo-300x126.png","height":"126","width":"300"},"url":"https:\/\/univista.com\/posts\/ping-austins-sick-leave-ordinance\/","about":["business management","The Ping"],"wordCount":407,"articleBody":"ShareTweet                                        I\u2019m sure you heard that on February 16th Austin\u2019s City Council passed a sick leave ordinance scheduled to go into effect on October 1st. We, like all the other Austin-based small businesses needed to know how this was going to impact us. This is what we found out: Businesses with more than 15 employees must grant an employee one hour of earned sick time for every 30 hours worked.Businesses with 15 or fewer employees have to provide only 48 hours of paid leave, or six 8-hour days, per year.Businesses with five or fewer employees have until October, 2020 to comply.You are not required to provide more than 64 hours of earned sick time to an employee in a calendar year. All unused earned sick time up to 64 hours must be carried over to the following year.If you already provide PTO to an employee in an amount sufficient to meet the accrual, purpose, and usage requirements then no additional action is required.Earned sick time starts accruing when you hire an employee, or when the ordinance takes effect, whichever is later.Businesses can restrict usage of sick time for the first 60 days of employmentYou must reinstate accrued sick time for a separated employee who is rehired within 6 months.An employee may use earned sick time for the following reasons:The employee\u2019s physical or mental illness or injury, preventative medical or health care, or health condition.The care of a family member\u2019s physical or mental illness, preventative medical or health care, injury, or health condition.To seek medical attention or to participate in legal or court ordered action related to an incident of domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking involving the employee or employee\u2019s family member.You do not have to pay an employee if they are out sick and they do not have enough sick time accrued.You can not require an employee to find a replacement to cover the hours of earned sick time as a condition of using earned sick time.You must provide in writing to each employee the amount of earned sick time accrued and available on a monthly basis.There is up to a $500 for every violation of this ordinance. Of course, there are already challenges to the ordinance (link here: https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2018\/02\/16\/legislators-challenge-new-austin-sick-leave-mandate\/). If you\u2019d like to check out the actual ordinance go here: http:\/\/assets.austintexas.gov\/austincouncilforum\/1F-20180215214216.pdfShareTweet                                        "},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Posts","item":"https:\/\/univista.com\/posts\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Ping: Austin’s Sick Leave Ordinance","item":"https:\/\/univista.com\/posts\/ping-austins-sick-leave-ordinance\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]