On July 28, the Eugene City Council passed the Eugene Sick Leave Ordinance in a 5-3 vote, ignoring the attempted ban by Lane County government. The Eugene Sick Leave Ordinance will permit all employees within the city limits of Eugene to accumulate paid sick time.

By law, employers are required to provide their workers with one hour of paid absence due to illness for every 30 hours worked, with a maximum of 40 hours per year. Seattle, Portland and San Francisco have also passed required sick leave laws of their own, but Eugene is currently the smallest city nationwide to approve one. The ordinance will go into effect July 1, 2015.

“In terms of the counselors who promoted it, their biggest concerns [when promoting the law] were the estimated 25,000 employees without paid sick time and they wanted to avoid people coming in ill, especially in the food industry, to allow parents to stay home if their children are ill, and to help employees who may feel as if their job is threatened if they don’t report to work because of illness,” Policy and Systems analyst Jason Dedrick said.

The law encompasses all employees within the city of Eugene and applies to all workers.

“[It is relevant to] any employer in the city of Eugene, regardless of the number of employees on the payroll. All employees, regardless of the number of employees, temporary or full-time, get paid sick time if they work over 240 hours per year. Even if the employer is not in Eugene, the law still applies to their workers working in Eugene,” Dedrick said.

A few details of the law are still in the process of being worked through. The City of Eugene will likely hold a series of meetings in the fall to work on particular sections of the ordinance. One potential change would be the clarification that employees from non-Eugene companies must work six weeks in Eugene for a minimum of one year in order to accrue sick leave.

“There are specific points that are being referred to an administrative rule-making process, such as how employees can use sick leave and how it applies to employees who already have a sick leave policy,” Dedrick said.

There are other factors with the law to be considered, even after clarifying the ordinance’s details. A rift remains between the council and the Lane County Board of Commissioners regarding Eugene’s adoption of the law. Controversy exists between proponents of the law who feel that it will protect low-income employees who need to stay at home to care for themselves or their children. Other people are concerned that it could potentially cost businesses money. The Eugene-Lane County dissension could result in a court appearance, which may not happen for a year since the ordinance won’t be in affect until next July.