2 Collin County Businesses File Federal Lawsuit To Stop Dallas' New Paid Sick Time Ordinance
SHERMAN, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - Dallas' paid sick time ordinance is set to kick in on Thursday, August 1, but there's an effort underway to stop it from taking effect.
Two Collin County businesses filed lawsuit in federal court in Sherman on Tuesday.
In the court documents, ESI Employee Solutions and Hagan Law Group say they have employees that work in Dallas enough to earn the sick time.
However, the ordinance requires employers to allow employees to use earned leave at any other facility with the same employer, such as Collin County.
The lawsuit says the ordinance extends regulatory power outside of its city limits to violate plaintiffs constitutional rights.
So far, the city of Dallas has no comment on the lawsuit.
The Dallas City Council passed the ordinance 10 to 4 in April after a heated debate.
It requires all companies in the city to give workers earned paid sick time.
A coalition of ten groups had fought for the measure saying for low wage workers, missing time for illness could have a big impact on getting even the basic necessities like food.
The city councils in Austin and San Antonio both passed a paid sick time ordinance only to see it challenged in court.
In response to the lawsuit, the, community groups issued the following statement:
"It is telling that corporations would rather spend significant amounts of money to deny their workers this basic right than to value and honor the labor provided by the people they need to run their businesses," said Brianna Brown, deputy director of the Texas Organizing Project. "This lawsuit is about preserving the status quo that puts business interests above those of people. The City of Dallas needs to fight this lawsuit and protect the working people of Dallas."
READ LAWSUIT HERE:
