Bill filed Monday would scrap Austin's paid sick leave ordinance

A bill filed Monday at the Capitol would undo Austin's paid sick leave ordinance, which mandates that private employers in Austin give paid sick days to employees.

Rep. Matt Krause, R-Fort Worth, filed HB 222 on Monday. The bill would prohibit cities from passing ordinances like the one the Austin City Council approved in February, stating that any adopted paid sick leave mandate would be "void and unenforceable."

Austin's paid sick leave ordinance made the capital city the first in Texas to require all employers to provide paid time for sick days. It requires employers with more than 15 workers to provide at most eight days of paid sick leave a year for full-time employees. Small businesses with 15 or fewer employees are required to offer six paid sick days.

The ordinance was hailed by progressives as a groundbreaking change for labor rights in a deep red state, but it also became a target for Republican state lawmakers and the subject oflitigation against the city. The paid sick leave ordinance was placed on hold after a state appeals court granted an injunction regarding its implementation on Aug. 20.

San Antonio passed a similar law in August, and the Dallas city council flirted with the idea of passing a paid sick leave mandate, but a proposal never came to a vote.

Krause told the Statesman on Monday that he views Austin's paid sick leave ordinance as a "big overreach from cities" that is unconstitutional under Texas law.

"When the government steps in to issue mandates like these, it does more harm then good," Krause said.

Austin City Council Member Greg Casar made passing the paid sick leave ordinance a major focus of his political efforts in 2017. However, many local business groups cried foul, telling city leaders that their input was not considered during community meetings. A coalition of restaurant businesses, which stand to be affected the most by the mandate, opposed the ordinance.

Rep. Paul Workman, R-Austin, had vowed to file a bill to pre-empt the ordinance. However, Workman lost his bid for re-election last week.

"Voters sent Paul Workman home because it seemed like the only people he was working for were special interests," Casar told the Statesman on Monday. "Now it seems clear to me the special interest lobby has had to go find a representative on the edges of North Texas to take away paid sick wages for Austinites."