San Francisco to ensure domestic workers get paid sick time

San Francisco has guaranteed paid sick leave to all workers in the city for nearly 15 years. Now it wants to make sure the city's roughly 10,000 domestic workers have an actual shot at getting the benefit. 

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday passed an ordinance to create a portable benefits system that would let workers aggregate hours from multiple employers to count toward their sick pay. 

What will likely be a cellphone app will be devised to keep a tally of hours and what's due, helping workers and those that hire them manage their arrangements, according to Hillary Ronen, the supervisor who co-wrote the new rule with the California Domestic Workers Coalition.

"Under current law, all San Francisco workers are entitled to paid sick time, which accrues based on hours worked," Ronen told her board colleagues before they voted 11-0 to approve the measure. "Although they have the right to paid sick leave, in reality very few domestic workers are able to access this benefit."

The San Francisco law that took effect in February 2007 requires employers to provide workers one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours on the job. But hours worked for different jobs couldn't be included in a single tally, so working 15 hours for one household and 15 hours for another would not yield an hour's  worth of sick time.

Domestic workers can toil for as many as 20 different employers every month, putting accrued paid sick time beyond reach. Further, the individuals who hire housekeepers, caregivers and landscapers might not even know about the sick leave rule or how to manage it. 

The trouble became especially acute with COVID-19, as many low-wage workers continued to work even while sick because they needed the paycheck, according to labor advocates. 

The new ordinance was applauded on Wednesday by Mujeres Unidas y Activas, or MUA, a grassroots organization of Latina immigrant women based in San Francisco.

"We hope that the San Francisco portable benefits system will serve as a model for other cities in the Bay Area and for the rest of the state," the group stated. "Making safety net benefits accessible is not only a matter of equity but also part of our vision for the future of the domestic work industry."