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If it's hip in Portland, New York City is sure to copy. First it was artisanal unemployment; then Andy Ricker's Thai food.
Now the Big Apple is aping our paid sick-leave policy.
New York City leaders struck a deal last night mandating that companies offer paid time off for ill employees, over the objections of Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The decision comes more than two weeks after Portland City Council passed a more expansive paid sick-leave policy championed by Commissioner Amanda Fritz.
The Oregonian noted this morning that Philadelphia is also close to mimicking Portland's sick-leave rules.
(Yes, Seattle had the policy first. No, let's not talk about that.)
Portland's sick-leave advocates are flattered by the imitation.
"Portland is a leader, and we are now at the forefront of a national movement to advance paid sick leave laws across the state and nation," says Andrea Paluso, executive director of Family Forward Oregon, which pushed for Portland sick leave.
Paluso is hopeful that a sick-leave bill in the Oregon legislature is next to pass.
"As is the way with all major labor standards that have preceded this one," she tells WW in an email, "cities and states will pave the way to a national law that ensures all workers have the right to recover from illness without losing needed income or their job."
Now we just need Brooklyn to buy a Loo.
WWeek 2015