Spokane City Council will vote on paid sick leave next week.

(Jan. 7, 2016) At its legislative meeting earlier this week, the Spokane City Council formally introduced a proposal to mandate paid sick leave for employees in the City of Spokane. The Council will vote at its January 11 meeting on the proposed ordinance, which would require Spokane-based employers to provide employees with up to three days of sick leave each year.

Under the ordinance:

• Paid sick leave would accrue at a rate of one hour for every 30 hours worked with an annual cap of 24 hours.
• Accrued sick leave could be rolled over, but not cashed out.
• The ordinance would not apply to work-study students, independent contractors, seasonal or temporary workers, or those employed by a firm engaged in “construction work.”
• An employer would be able to require employees to provide reasonable documentation for the use of three consecutive days.
• Employees would be allowed to shift swap.

If passed, the ordinance would go into effect Feb. 15, 2017. You can view the proposed ordinance here. The proposal reflects suggestions that the WRA/WLA Government Affairs team made to the Council in 2015. If you have any questions about the proposed legislation, contact the WRA’s Zachary Lindahl at zacharyl@warestaurant.org.