Philly, you can still get paid COVID sick leave. Here’s how.

Nearly three years into the COVID-19 pandemic, Philadelphia still has city-sanctioned policies that let workers access extra paid sick leave. And you don’t necessarily have to be ill to benefit.

The city released a flurry of paid sick leave policies starting in fall 2020. Just last spring, Council passed the COVID sick time legislation, which extended the requirement that employers with 25 or more employees provide additional paid sick leave to workers.

Whether you’re a worker in need of COVID sick time or an employer looking to figure out how to adhere to the law, here’s a guide to all of Philadelphia’s pandemic paid sick time policies:

City Council’s newest COVID paid sick leave policy runs through December 2023 and requires employers with 25 or more workers to provide up to 40 hours of paid time off.

A health-care-worker-specific policy instituted in September 2020 is also still in effect.

The paid leave for health-care workers at companies with at least 10 employees requires those employees to provide sickened health-care employees with leave until they are well. That regulation is ongoing until the World Health Organization or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declares the end of the pandemic. In September 2022, the WHO director-general said the end of the pandemic was “in sight.”

The city also passed other measures that have expired.

There were a lot of sick law expansions, federal regulations that applied to the city, and emergency declarations that allowed municipalities to enact increased paid worker protections. Per the Office of Labor, here are a few of the major ones:

First, Philadelphia enacted non-COVID-related paid time off requirements in 2015. You can read more about that policy here.

In March 2020, city officials extended those protections to apply during a public health emergency in an early effort to cover COVID-related work absences. Companies with more than nine employees were required to let workers earn up to five paid sick days. Smaller companies had to provide up to five unpaid sick days. Employees could use time for COVID-related reasons like mandatory quarantine periods, business closures, and child care.

In September 2020, Council expanded the city’s paid sick leave law to gig workers, widening the number and kinds of employees who could access two weeks of paid sick leave. Employers with 500 or more workers were required to provide up to 112 additional hours of paid sick leave for COVID reasons that extended beyond just personal illness. In addition to isolation after exposure and caring for a sick family member, employers also had to provide leave in the event of COVID-related child care closures. That expired in December 2020.

Public Health Emergency Leave was a new law instituted in March 2021 and required companies with 50 or more employees to provide up to 80 additional hours of paid sick leave – that is, on top of already required sick time — for COVID reasons, including to get a vaccine or recover from the vaccine. That regulation expired in June 2021.

The health-care workers’ paid time off policy applies to health-care workers at companies with 10 or more employees, according to the Office of Labor.

The paid time off policy passed by Council in March 2022 extends to all employees required to work in person, according to Councilmember Kendra Brooks’ office.

The health-care worker paid leave regulation expires whenever WHO or the CDC declares the end of the pandemic.

The most recent COVID sick time policy expires on Dec. 31, 2023.

The Office of Labor recommends workers who feel they qualify request COVID sick leave the same way they would ask for standard sick leave, whether that’s via email, text message, in person, or another standard way that fits in their workplace culture.

The Office of Worker Protections processes complaints and said the process takes about four to eight months on average, though complex cases may take longer.

Workers can file complaints with the Office of Worker Protections by filling out this form and emailing the completed form to paidsickleave@phila.gov or mailing it to:

Office of Worker Protections

Land Title Building

100 S. Broad St., 4th Floor, Room #425

Philadelphia, PA 19110

The Inquirer is one of more than 20 news organizations producing Broke in Philly, a collaborative reporting project on solutions to poverty and the city’s push toward economic justice. See all of our reporting at brokeinphilly.org.