Many Philadelphia employees now entitled to supplemental COVID-19 leave

April 2022 employment law letter

Authors:

Zachary Kimmel and Lisa M. Koblin, Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney recently signed bill 220051-A expanding COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave (SPSL) until December 31, 2023. The law requires covered employers to give eligible employees up to 40 hours of additional paid time off (PTO) for specified virus-related purposes with only limited exceptions. While the new ordinance in many ways mirrors the language of the city’s 2021 COVID-19 paid leave ordinance, it includes some significant differences in terms of which employers are covered and how much paid leave they are required to provide.

Coverage

The new law covers employers with 25 or more employees, a notable reduction from the 50-or-more employees in the 2021 version of the Philadelphia COVID-19 sick leave law. The ordinance doesn’t specify how you should calculate the 25-employee threshold, but it does place parameters around which workers qualify for the SPSL leave, which should inform your calculation.

A “covered employee” is defined as someone who, before the ordinance’s enactment, worked for a covered employer and:

Works in Philadelphia;
Normally works in the city but currently telecommutes from elsewhere because of COVID-19; or
Works from multiple or mobile locations but spends 51% of the time working in Philadelphia.

Reasons for leave

SPSL must be offered for employees to use under the following circumstances:

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