The Seattle City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to permanently give most gig workers paid sick leave and paid safe time, the latest in the expansion of labor rights for app-based workers, and the first statute of its kind nationally.
The vote broadens and cements the pandemic-era policy that previously allowed food delivery workers to accrue paid sick and safe time, or PSST, until April 30, six months after the end of the city’s emergency order.
Maria Hernandez, who has worked for DoorDash and Uber Eats since 2019, said when she was treated for breast cancer, she was not given adequate time to heal after surgery because she was not given paid leave.
“Because I don’t have much savings and I have many bills to pay monthly, after one-third of the recommended time to not work from the doctors, I had to return to making deliveries,” Hernandez wrote in a statement that she delivered to the council in Spanish, before an interpreter read it in English.
“This new permanent law will help create more than a free day for anyone who is sick. It will give us tranquillity and some peace in our hearts,” she added.
The policy is the latest in a string of protections added for on-demand gig workers since the pandemic. It follows the unanimous approval of a minimum pay and mileage bill last spring, part of the council’s “Pay Up” suite of labor protections.
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