San Antonio Paid Sick Leave Ordinance Delayed

On July 24, 2019, a Bexar County district court judge entered an order delaying the implementation of the San Antonio paid sick leave (PSL) ordinance from its current August 1, 2019 date to December 1, 2019. The order represented a compromise between the City of San Antonio and a coalition of San Antonio business groups that filed suit against the city on July 15. While news of this compromise broke on Friday, July 19, the agreement faced challenge by two public interest groups that intervened into the lawsuit and opposed any delay in ordinance’s effective date. Their intervention resulted in further uncertainty and delayed the court’s consideration of the agreed order from an original hearing date of July 22 until July 24. In the end, the court entered the agreed order, and the city has announced its intention to review and refine the ordinance. It is unclear at this time whether the two public interest groups will appeal the entry of the order.

As of this date, no lawsuit has been filed in Dallas and the ruling in San Antonio will not impact the Dallas PSL ordinance, which is still scheduled to take effect on August 1, 2019. The public interest group that played a part in successfully challenging Austin’s PSL ordinance has written a letter to the City of Dallas threatening to sue to delay the implementation of Dallas’s PSL.

Meanwhile, the City of Dallas has published rules regarding its PSL ordinance and a list of frequently asked questions.