Paid Leave and Coronavirus — Part 37: Philadelphia’s 2022 COVID-19 Paid Leave Mandate Now In Effect; Model Notice Issued

Seyfarth Synopsis: On March 9, 2022, Mayor James Kenney signed Philadelphia’s third COVID-19 paid leave ordinance into law, as formally announced by the city on March 15.  The mandate went into effect immediately and will sunset on December 31, 2023.  The city also has published a corresponding model notice.

The third iteration of Philadelphia’s COVID-19 paid leave mandate applies to employers who have 25 or more employees.  The mandate has a fairly broad standard for employee eligibility, covering those who (a) work for a covered employer and (b) either (i) currently work in the city, (ii) normally work in the city but are currently teleworking due to COVID-19, or (iii) work from multiple locations and spend a majority of their work time in the city. 

Eligible employees who work 40 or more hours per week are entitled to 40 hours of paid COVID-19 leave to use for a variety of COVID-related covered absences.  COVID-19 leave is prorated for employees who work less than 40 hours in a week.  Covered absences for use of COVID-19 leave include, but are not limited to: (a) care for the employee’s own self or a family member who has COVID-19 symptoms or is self-isolating due to COVID-19 exposure; (b) childcare or school closure; and (c) receiving a COVID-19 vaccine (including booster) or recovering from COVID-19 vaccine side effects.

As noted above, the mandate’s model notice has been posted and can be found here.  Employers must provide employees with a notice of their rights under the COVID-19 leave mandate within 15 days of the mandate becoming law.  Although not specified, if the 15 days are measured as calendar days, covered employers will need to provide their employees with a copy of the notice by March 24, 2022.[1] Importantly, the Philadelphia Promoting Healthy Families and Workplaces ordinance’s provisions on employer notice and posting apply to the new COVID-19 leave mandate.

For more information on Philadelphia’s 2022 COVID-19 leave mandate, see Part 36 of Seyfarth’s Paid Leave and Coronavirus series, which includes information on the following: (a) historical overview of Philadelphia’s COVID-19 paid leave mandates; (b) employee eligibility; (c) employer coverage; (d) amount of COVID-19 leave; (e) covered reasons for use of COVID-19 leave; (f) coordination of COVID-19 leave with other benefits; (g) individual notice and documentation requirements; (h) payment of benefits; and (i) employer notice and posting requirements.

With the paid leave landscape continuing to expand and grow in complexity, companies should reach out to their Seyfarth contact for solutions and recommendations on addressing compliance with this law and paid leave requirements more generally. 

To stay up-to-date on Paid Sick Leave developments, click here to sign up for Seyfarth’s Paid Sick Leave mailing list.  Companies interested in Seyfarth’s paid sick leave laws survey should reach out to paidleave@seyfarth.com.

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[1] Portions of the Philadelphia COVID-19 paid sick leave website state that COVID-19 leave benefits under the reenacted mandate started on March 9, 2022, which is also the day the ordinance was signed by Mayor Kenney.  However, other parts of the same website, including the model notice, state that benefits started on March 10.