No lie—we truly love when local governments proactively invite us all to participate in the policy-making process! Right now, the City of Seattle’s Office of Labor Standards is surveying Seattle residents and workers on potential amendments to the city’s paid sick days law for City Council consideration. 

We know you’re busy celebrating Pride Month, so we compiled our best recommendations for updates to Seattle’s paid sick days law. YOU’RE INVITED to sign on to our guidance letter so Seattle can see the hundreds of residents that support strong paid sick days updates!

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Seattle made history in 2011 as one of the first cities in the country to mandate paid sick days—and that bold local action helped set the stage for Washington voters to approve statewide paid sick days on the ballot in 2016. 

Now, City leaders are looking to ensure Seattle workers have the best available labor protections, and they've asked for our help informing the next evolution of this policy that is both essential and groundbreaking. We need your voice!

Urge the City of Seattle to update its Paid Sick Days Law to work for every family and expand protections for immigrant families, chosen family members, and all workers.

In recent years, thanks to your collective advocacy, Washington State has updated its paid sick days law in several important ways that have made a huge difference for families! Now it's time for our City to incorporate these same updates into its own policy so Seattle workers have every protection available to them. We cannot leave local gaps open that put Seattleites at risk of losing their jobs when germs and illnesses inevitably hit our schools, workplaces, and families.  

It’s really exciting that you and I have this opportunity to help make Seattle's law as strong as it can be! 

Add your signature to our recommendations that will help ALL families thrive! Tell Seattle to keep paid sick days working for working families and update their policy!

MomsRising is submitting the following Moms Know Best Policy Recommendations for Seattle’s Paid Sick and Safe Time (PSST) Ordinance to Seattle's Office of Labor Standards, which will help them to develop policy options for City Council:

• First, the City should expand the definition of "family member" to include “chosen family” (non-biological kinship bonds that operate as familial support systems). This change would enable workers to use their paid sick time to care for family members who depend on them, ensuring LGBTQ+, immigrant, and BIPOC families with chosen family structures are covered.
   
• Second, we’re recommending that the City allow workers to use paid sick days for immigration proceedings. In this moment of heightened fear, surveillance, and federal violence toward immigrant families, the ability to attend an immigration hearing without risking your job or your paycheck is a lifeline. Immigrant families need every protection available right now. The State recently amended its paid sick days law to allow this, and Seattle should do the same thing without delay!
   
• We’re also recommending that the law cover sick leave related to a worker’s or family members' protected class (gender, nationality, religion, etc.) and leave related to local, regional or state of emergency declarations, like a big storm.
   
• Finally, the City should end the 90-day waiting period that blocks new workers from using sick days they've already earned. Moms can't control when their kids get sick. If a worker has accrued paid sick time, they should be able to use it—full stop!

Are you with us on these important updates? Add your name to help the City of Seattle update their Paid Sick and Safe Time Ordinance to better support working families! 

Choosing between earning a paycheck and caring for yourself or your family is a choice no one should ever have to make. Paid sick days should cover the full spectrum of health and caregiving events that arise in a working person's life—from the emergency room to an immigration hearing, from the sick toddler to the aging parent who needs someone there. Seattle workers need and deserve every one of these protections. 

Making small updates like these to Seattle’s paid leave law would make a big difference for families. We've helped win improvements to Washington's paid sick days law before, and we can do it again here in Seattle!