Seattle Becomes First U.S. City to Permanently Require Sick Leave for Delivery and App-based Workers

upstart writes:

Uber Eats and other food-delivery drivers will receive paid sick leave under rules approved by the Seattle City Council:

The Seattle City Council today unanimously approved rules providing paid sick leave for food-delivery and other on-demand, app-based gig economy workers. The city appears to be the first in the nation to permanently ensure these protections.

[...] The measure applies to workers for companies such as DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats, as well as platforms providing on-demand work such as laundry services and car washing. Similar benefits already exist at the state level for ride-hailing companies including Lyft and Uber. Seattle's legislation provides a suite of sick and "safe" time benefits including paid time off for:

• an illness and preventative health care;
• if a company stops operations due to a public health emergency or other safety reason;
• due to a school closure for a family member; and
• in order to seek services for domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking.

Mosqueda sponsored the legislation and was also the lead on similar, temporary protections put in place in June 2020 to aid workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mayor Bruce Harrell drafted the new legislation in partnership with the council and lauded passage of the measure, according to a statement.

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