Health Care Employee Pandemic Paid Sick Leave

On September 9, 2020, the City amended Chapter 9-4100 of the Philadelphia Code, entitled “Promoting Healthy Families and Workplaces,” so that certain health care employees are compensated in the event they contract a communicable disease during a pandemic or epidemic event, all under certain terms and conditions.

Health care employers are required to provide certain health care employees and pool employees with paid sick leave when they miss work and test positive for COVID-19.  This includes hospitals, nursing homes, and home health providers.

In order to qualify for this additional COVID-19 pandemic paid sick leave, the health care employee must have worked for the employer at least 40 hours in the three months prior to contracting COVID-19.

Public Health Emergency Paid Sick Leave

Effective September 17, 2020 through December 31, 2020, Chapter 9-4100 of the Philadelphia Code, entitled “Promoting Healthy Families and Workplaces,” was amended so that employers with 500 or more employees are required to provide up to 112 hours of paid sick leave under certain circumstances during the COVID-19 pandemic to Philadelphia employees who request it due to:

• Care for self or family member showing symptoms of COVID-19.
• Care for self or family member advised to self quarantine by a health care provider.
• Care for self or family during local quarantine.
• Childcare closure.

A note is not required in order to request public health emergency paid sick leave.

Employees excluded under the FFCRA may be covered under the public health emergency paid sick leave amendment.

Additional Information for COVID-19 Pandemic Paid Sick Leave

Retaliation by employers is illegal. Additional protections including providing notice of this protection are outlined in the resources below.

Employees can file a complaint about violations of paid sick leave during the pandemic with the Mayor’s Office of Labor by completing the complaint form below and emailing it to  COVID19WorkplaceProtections@phila.gov  or calling (215) 686-0802.

Employers can contact the Office of Benefits and Wage Compliance at the Mayor’s Office of Labor for compliance assistance. For more information or to ask questions, email  COVID19WorkplaceProtections@phila.gov  or call (215) 686-0802. Language access is available.

Workers may  also be eligible for the City’s accrued Paid Sick Leave, the FFCRA for employees who work for employers with 499 or less employees, or other federal protections.