There are questions regarding the impact of such an Ordinance on small business — with the greatest concern being the economic impact. As a small business owner who has worked in, and managed, restaurants, I analyzed the impact to an independent restaurant with only 7 employees.

On a normal evening, the restaurant needs two waitpersons to work six-hour shifts to serve customers.

If someone calls in sick, the owner must scramble to find a replacement. This is frustrating, but doesn’t cost the owner because the wages that would have been paid to the sick worker are docked from their check to pay the person who worked.

Sometimes the employee is so desperate for the income, or the owner threatens to fire workers who takes off, that they come to work sick. Then, the owner must worry that other staff or customers might get infected.

Under the new Paid Sick Days Ordinance, if one of these waitperson calls in sick, the owner would still need to find a replacement and pay him or her $12.78 for the shift (the business is only required to pay $2.13 per hour since tips make up the rest of the worker’s wages). But, if the sick worker has accrued 6 hours of sick leave the owner will also need to pay $43.5 (the minimum wage) to that waitperson.

In another example, If a waitress has worked a full year and needs to be out 8 days (the maximum that can be accrued annually under this ordinance) to give birth, the owner would need to pay them a whopping $464 while on leave. Under our current system, her paycheck would be $0.

With the new ordinance, instead of compensating employees with near slave-wages, business owners would need to do the responsible thing — for the safety of the public and the benefit of their employees. If a business is so unprofitable that the owner can’t afford to pay they might need to increase prices somewhat to cover the increased costs.

Owning and operating a business is always challenging — particularly for restaurants, food trucks, and retail stores. This Ordinance will slightly increase both the compliance paperwork and costs for them.

However, arguments that the ordinance will have a significant economic impact to small businesses are untrue and more than outweighed by the benefits that will accrue to workers and their families, who will now be protected by a minimal amount of sick leave.

I support this sensible and well-needed measure.

2/7/18 Received some suggestions from others for this ordinance: 1. Exempt startups in the first 3 years of business (since their business formation). 2. Reduce the max hours to 5 annually from the current 8 maximum. 3. Have the city provide a Tax credit help offset the costs to small businesses.

Economic impact of the Austin Sick Leave Ordinance on a small restaurant was originally published in Austin Startups on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.