In a victory for conservatives over Austin progressives, the Texas Supreme Court on Friday rejected the city’s attempt to revive an ordinance requiring most businesses to provide paid sick leave to employees.
The all-Republican Supreme Court gave no reasons for rejecting Austin’s appeal, common practice when the court exercises its discretion on which cases to accept.
Friday’s decision let stand a November 2018 ruling by the Austin-based 3rd Court of Appeals, which struck down the ordinance, saying it improperly counteracted the Texas Minimum Wage Act. The state law bars cities from regulating wages paid by private businesses.
The Austin ordinance, approved in 2018, never took effect amid challenges from conservative and pro-business groups.
City officials, joined by labor and public health groups, had recently called for the ordinance to be revived during the coronavirus pandemic, arguing that giving sick workers the opportunity to stay home was essential to fighting the spread of COVID-19.
City Council Member Greg Casar, the lead sponsor of the ordinance, blasted the court’s decision.
“This is reprehensible and cowardly from the Texas Supreme Court in the midst of the worst pandemic in 100 years,” Casar said. “We will not rest until every Texan has the basic right to paid sick time, a right guaranteed in every other wealthy country in the world.”
Austin’s ordinance required employers to grant one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours an employee worked, up to a total of 64 hours, or eight days a year. Small businesses with 15 or fewer employees were capped at giving employees 48 hours, or six days, of paid sick time.
Several employers, business groups and the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank, sued to block the ordinance, arguing that leave policies are best negotiated between employer and employee without the city imposing a one-size-fits-all mandate.
Robert Henneke, general counsel for the Texas Public Policy Foundation, praised the ruling.
“Once again, Texas courts are unanimous that cities in Texas lack the lawful power to mandate paid sick leave that interferes with the ability of employers and employees to negotiate wages and benefits,” he said.
Hennecke called on Dallas and San Antonio, which enacted similar paid leave rules, to heed the court’s action.
“Today’s denial by the Texas Supreme Court is a clear signal that cities across Texas should withdraw these unconstitutional ordinances,” he said.
Lawyers for Austin had argued that under state law, the term “wages” applies only to compensation for labor or services, not fringe benefits such as paid vacation and paid sick leave, but the 3rd Court of Appeals rejected that idea.
Writing for the court’s three-judge panel, Chief Justice Jeff Rose said Austin’s sick leave requirement would increase the wages paid to workers, violating the Minimum Wage Act.
“An employer subject to the ordinance must pay employees who use sick leave for hours that they did not actually work,” Rose, a Republican, wrote. Therefore, he added, “the ordinance increases the pay of those employees.”
Because the Texas Constitution prohibits city ordinances that supersede laws enacted by the Legislature, the Austin ordinance also violates the constitution, he wrote.
Supporters of the ordinance cried foul, saying Rose’s opinion was joined by two other Republican justices who had been voted out of office less than two weeks earlier — David Puryear and Scott Field — and were due to be replaced by Democrats.
Chuck Lindell, Austin American-Statesman (TNS)