SAN ANTONIO — Days after a lawsuit was filed by several local companies to block a paid sick leave ordinance from going into effect in San Antonio, and mere hours after Texas's top legal officer added his voice to the opposition of what his office called an "unlawful" law, the city is delaying its implementation.
Instead of being implemented August 1, the city is now delaying several months, to December. The ordinance was approved, by a 9-2 vote, by San Antonio City Council last August.
"The city and opposing counsel submitted an agreed order for the court's consideration to delay implementation of the paid sick leave ordinance until Dec. 1, 2019," Deputy City Attorney Ed Guzman said. "This additional time will allow us to continue working with the paid sick leave commission, committees and our stakeholders to refine the ordinance."
The development comes after various entities – including those local companies suing the city, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and, earlier this year, Gov. Greg Abbott – echoed similar sentiments that the impending Alamo City law was unconstitutional. According to Paxton’s office, only the Texas Legislature has the legal capacity to establish minimum amounts of paid time off.
"San Antonio, Austin, Dallas and other cities cannot be allowed to pass their own laws simply because they dislike state law or disagree with the judgment of the state’s elected representatives,” Paxton said in a press release issued Friday. “The Legislature established the minimum amount of compensation for workers, and the Texas Constitution prohibits local municipalities from ignoring the Legislature’s decision.”
Paxton's office previously warned San Antonio leaders last summer that instituting paid sick leave would be "circumventing" state law, given the ordinance would raise weekly wages beyond the legal parameters instituted by the Texas Minimum Wage Act.
A court hearing on the matter is set for next month, according to local attorney Ricardo Cedillo.