Austin Paid Sick Leave Law Put on Hold

A paid sick leave law in Austin, Texas, is on hold pending an appeals court review.

The Texas Third Court of Appeals Aug. 17 blocked an ordinance that would take effect Oct. 1. A prior ruling from the 353rd District Court denied a temporary injunction to a business coalition challenging the paid sick leave mandate.

Paid sick leave efforts across the state have had mixed success. The San Antonio City Council passed a mandate Aug. 16, while a petition for paid sick leave in Dallas failed in July.

The Texas Public Policy Foundation, representing a coalition of business groups that includes the Texas Association of Business, the National Federation of Independent Business, and the American Staffing Association, challenged the Austin ordinance because they say it violates the state’s minimum wage law. The Texas attorney general joined the coalition’s lawsuit.

“The minimum amount of compensation established for workers, including the minimum amount of paid time off, is a decision entrusted by the Texas Constitution solely to the Texas Legislature,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in an Aug.17 statement. “I’m confident that an appeals court will recognize that the law expressly preempts cities from passing a different law simply because they disagree with the judgment of our state’s elected representatives.”

“This is the correct ruling,” Robert Henneke, director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation and lead counsel in the lawsuit, told Bloomberg Law Aug. 20. Austin businesses will have to bear the costs of adopting and carrying out sick leave policies, he said. “There are serious and significant questions as to the legality of the ordinance, and it is appropriate to have those questions resolved by the court first” before businesses must comply.

Supporters Hopeful

Austin City Councilman Gregorio Casar, who introduced the measure, remained hopeful that the paid sick leave ordinance will prevail.

“The court did not rule that our law is illegal, just that the law is temporarily blocked while they review it,” he said in a statement. “The ruling lays out a timeline for briefings in September, which means if we prevail in September, working people in Austin could still earn the sick days they deserve starting in October, as intended in our ordinance.”

The Austin ordinance passed in February. It requires employers to grant one hour of leave for every 30 hours worked, with limits on how much an employee may accrue that vary depending on employer size and whether it’s a unionized workplace with a collective bargaining agreement.

The case is Tex. Ass’n of Bus. v. City of Austin, Tex. App., No. 03-18-00445-CV, temporary injunction granted 8/17/18.