Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser last week declined to veto D.C. Bill 21-415, the Universal Paid Leave Amendments Act of 2016, clearing the way for implementation of the most generous mandated paid leave benefits in the nation. Although Mayor Bowser had expressed deep reservations about the bill because of its potential cost impact on businesses operating in D.C., she chose to neither sign nor veto the legislation, thus allowing it to go into effect.
As currently structured, the bill’s leave provisions would go into effect on July 1, 2020. The new payroll tax imposed on covered employers to fund the leave program would go into effect in 2019. The chair of the D.C. City Council, however, indicated recently that he is open to consideration of other funding mechanisms that may be less onerous to D.C. employers, suggesting that further changes to the new law are still possible before employers have to start providing benefits.
Regardless of the ultimate funding mechanism, supporters of the bill insist that its basic mandated benefits will not be reduced. These include:
- Eight weeks of paid parental leave for all employees;
- Six weeks of paid leave to care for a sick relative; and
- Two weeks of paid leave for self-care when an employee has a serious illness.
A copy of the Universal Paid Leave Amendments Act as currently structured is available here.
Members of the Equal Employment Advisory Council (EEAC) can read more here.