COVID paid sick leave in PA?

Submitted by HERCzero t3_11ksf28 in philadelphia

Hey yall.

I recently got diagnosed with the ick (covid) after avoiding it for three years. My workplace mandates at least 5 days of isolation at home before returning to work. Does the state of PA have some sort of COVID paid leave mandate? I'm trying to avoid using a significant chunk of my PTO. Never been in this situation before tbh.

Any help or guidance would be much appreciated.

2

Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

porkchameleon t1_jb9szxf wrote

> I'm trying to avoid using a significant chunk of my PTO.

If you have PTO, you should have sick days, no? With more than 3 of those in a row employers normally need a doctor's note, but if they are mandating 5 days leave themselves in case of COVID - you shouldn't be stuck with having to use your vacation time and such, it all oughta be under a different policy.

Check with your manager/HR.

3

Barmelo_Xanthony t1_jbb3lhg wrote

Every job I’ve had they’ve lumped the PTO and sick time together. It’s great when you’re healthy that year and can use it all as vacation but sucks when you need to take off for being sick.

2

porkchameleon t1_jbb7529 wrote

I've worked with:

  • no PTO or sick days (hourly; you could get a sick day with a Doctor's note, but the time was mandated by number of hours you worked (and YMWV depending on where you work, not all cities have, AFAIK))

  • PTO and unlimited sick days

  • unlimited PTO and a certain number of sick days, PTO could not be used for sick leave and vice versa

Lumped together one makes things tricky, but if it's OP's case - since work mandates 5 days leave, they oughta make those paid sick days outside of a policy (but I guess that would work in an ideal world).

1

sailbag36 t1_jba4r8q wrote

Philadelphia mandates paid sick time for all employees. Minimally you can use that if there is no longer mandated COVID sick pay.

3

yeastweast t1_jbbwm86 wrote

In Philadelphia there is:

Starting March 9, 2022 until December 31, 2023, employers with 25 or more employees must provide up to 40 hours of additional paid sick leave to eligible employees when they are unable to work for certain COVID-19 reasons, including:

Care for self or family member showing symptoms of COVID-19. Care for self or family member exposed to COVID-19 in order to self isolate. Childcare or school closure. In order to receive a COVID-19 test, vaccine or recover from injury, disability or illness related to vaccination.

This paid sick leave must be provided outside of and prior to using the eligible employee’s existing accrued paid time off banks including for full time employees, part time employees, and union employees. COVID-19 Leave must be provided to employees immediately with no waiting period. An employer is permitted only to request that an employee submit a self-certified statement asserting that leave was used for COVID-19 Leave purposes.

*Review the law or contact our office for more information. Covered employers whose existing leave policies provide 120 hours or 112.5 hours or more of paid sick leave that can be used for the same purposes under the same conditions of COVID-19 Leave may not be required to provide additional paid sick leave.

https://www.phila.gov/documents/covid-19-pandemic-paid-sick-leave-resources/

2