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.

This is law is effective for the duration of a pandemic or epidemic effecting the City of Philadelphia declared to exist by the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or other recognized public interest health organization. While the national health emergency ended on May 11 2023, the Health Care Epidemic Leave requirements will remain in effect until the end of a declared pandemic. 

COVID-19 Leave

Starting March 9, 2022 until December 31, 2023, employers with 25 or more employees must provide up to 40 hours of additional paid sick leave to eligible employees when they are unable to work for certain COVID-19 reasons, including:

•  Care for self or family member showing symptoms of COVID-19.

•  Care for self or family member exposed to COVID-19 in order to self isolate.

•  Childcare or school closure.

• In order to receive a COVID-19 test, vaccine or recover from injury, disability or illness related to vaccination.

This paid sick leave must be provided outside of and prior to using the eligible employee’s existing accrued paid time off banks including for full time employees, part time employees, and union employees. COVID-19 Leave must be provided to employees immediately with no waiting period. An employer is permitted only to request that an employee submit a self-certified statement asserting that leave was used for COVID-19 Leave purposes. 

*Review the law or contact our office for more information. Covered employers whose existing leave policies provide 120 hours or 112.5 hours or more of paid sick leave that can be used for the same purposes under the same conditions of COVID-19 Leave may not be required to provide additional paid sick leave.

Public Health Emergency Paid Sick Leave

Philadelphia has had two separate Public Health Emergency Paid Sick Leave requirements, both were effective during different time periods. Details including effective dates and summaries of the laws requirements are outlined below. PHEL requirements are no longer in effect.

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.

Separately, a Public Health Emergency Leave law started on March 29, 2021 and was effective until June 10, 2021. This law requires employers with 50 or more employees provide up to 80 hours of paid sick leave to certain employees for specific COVID-19 reasons, including :

• Care for self or family member showing symptoms of COVID-19.
• Care for self or family member exposed to COVID-19 in order to self isolate.
• Childcare or school closure.
• In order to receive a vaccine or recover from injury, disability or illness related to vaccination.
• If you need to miss work for the reasons outlined above, you can request paid sick leave from your employer.

This paid sick leave must be provided outside of and prior to using the eligible employee’s existing accrued paid time off for certain employees. Covered employers whose existing leave policies provide 160 hours or more of paid time off in 2021 that is not specifically designated as sick leave but can be used for the same purposes under the same conditions as required by this law shall not be required to provide additional paid sick leave.

Eligible employees must be employed for 90 days or more in order to receive this paid sick leave for COVID-19 reasons listed above. This law includes full time employees, part time employees, and union employees. However, this law does not cover seasonal or temp employees, state or federal employees and independent contractors (1099 employees).

*Employers may be eligible to receive a federal tax credit when they provide emergency paid sick leave.

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 Department 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 Worker Protections at the Department 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.