Best bet in City Hall today? That Mayor Nutter will veto the paid sick-leave bill
Mayor Nutter won't announce his official decision on whether to veto the paid sick-leave bill until Thursday, but lobbyists on both sides of the issue say he will kill the bill.
You don't need to be Carnac the Magnificent to predict that on Thursday, Mayor Nutter will veto legislation that would require Philadelphia employers to pay workers when they are sick.
Nutter had vetoed Councilman Bill Greenlee's original version of the bill in 2011. The mayor said that while he supports paying people when they are ill, he did not think it wise for Philadelphia to require it when surrounding suburbs do not.
Greenlee modified the bill, exempting companies with fewer than five employees, for example, and Council passed it again in March in an 11 to 6 vote. But one of the six who voted no – Councilmen David Oh, Bill Green, Jim Kenney, Dennis O'Brien, Brian O'Neill, and Mark Squilla – would have to change his mind for Greenlee to get the 12 votes he needs to override the veto.
Nutter's press office says it will not say anything about the paid sick leave bill until Thursday, but organizations on both sides of the issue say the administration has been saying it will veto the bill.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Pennsylvania chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business put out a press release thanking Nutter for his veto.
"This misguided policy would have hurt small businesses in Philadelphia, hampered job growth and reduced business expansion," NFIB Pennsylvania's executive director Kevin Shivers said.
Other lobbying groups confirmed to the Inquirer that the mayor will veto.
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