On May 1, 2020, Councilmember Kendra Brooks (At Large) announced a proposed bill, co-sponsored by Helen Gym (At Large) and Bobby Henon (6th District), that would increase the amount of paid sick leave available to workers who continue to physically report to their jobs during a “public health emergency.” This bill comes on the heels of much outcry from state and local officials hoping to address the fact that millions of workers have been excluded from federal emergency paid leave during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act create certain emergency sick time provisions for workers, these statutes exclude many employees. In Pennsylvania alone, more than 3 million workers have been excluded the law’s exemptions. The Brooks bill would certainly address these shortcomings.
Continue Reading Philadelphia councilmembers propose bill to increase paid sick leave for many federally excluded employees
Philadelphia
Don’t Ask, Don’t Use – the Third Circuit allows the Philadelphia salary history ban ordinance to go into effect
By Lori Armstrong Halber & Gavin Carpenter on
In 2017, the City of Philadelphia enacted the Wage Equity Ordinance to address the pay gap between men and women and between different races and ethnicities. The Ordinance contains two provisions: the “Inquiry Provision,” which prohibits employers from asking about a prospective employee’s wage history; and the “Reliance Provision,” which prohibits an employer from relying on wage history at any point in the process of setting or negotiating a prospective employee’s wage. Mayor Jim Kenny signed the Ordinance into law in January 2017 after it was unanimously passed by Philadelphia City Council.
The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, however, filed a lawsuit alleging that both provisions of the Wage Equity Ordinance infringed on the chamber and its members’ First Amendment freedom of speech rights. In the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia v. City of Philadelphia et al., the Honorable Mitchell Goldberg from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granted the chamber a preliminary injunction on the Inquiry Provision in April 2018, holding that the Ordinance violates employers’ freedom of speech rights. Judge Goldberg, however, upheld the Reliance Provision, which prohibits reliance on wage history, based on the court’s conclusion that such reliance did not implicate protected speech. In other words, Judge Goldberg found that an employer could ask about a candidate’s salary history, but could not use the information. Both parties appealed to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
Continue Reading Don’t Ask, Don’t Use – the Third Circuit allows the Philadelphia salary history ban ordinance to go into effect
City of Philadelphia Amendments to Ban-The-Box Legislation Take Effect This Week
By John A. DiNome & Lindsay Vernick on
On December 15, 2015, Philadelphia’s former Mayor, Michael Nutter, signed off on an amendment (“the Amendment”) to the Fair Criminal Record Screenings Standards Ordinance (“the Ordinance”). The Amendment, which tightens the already-stringent regulations on Philadelphia employers, becomes effective this Wednesday, March 16, 2016. The Amendment does not affect employers’ right to engage in any inquiries or adverse actions that are specifically authorized or mandated by any other applicable law or regulation.
The Expansion of the Ordinance
The Amendment, which takes the city’s stance on “banning the box” one step farther, prohibits employers from inquiring into an applicant’s criminal conviction history until after a conditional offer of employment has been made. Moreover, the Amendment expands the Ordinance’s reach, banning questions regarding an applicant’s willingness to eventually submit to a background check and emphasizing that any prohibited application inquiries are unlawful, even if placed alongside a disclaimer that certain applicants need not answer the question.
Even more onerously, the Amendment places new regulations on employers’ internal hiring policies and practices. It is now unlawful for an employer to maintain or adopt any policy automatically excluding an applicant with a criminal conviction from a class of jobs. Employers may only reject prospective employees based on a criminal record if the record includes a conviction that “bears such relationship to the employment sought that the employer may reasonably conclude that the applicant would present an unacceptable risk to the operation of the business or to co-workers or customers, and that exclusion of the applicant is compelled by business necessity.”
Continue Reading City of Philadelphia Amendments to Ban-The-Box Legislation Take Effect This Week