Job Killer in Dallas

Democratic Socialist of America” during the Black Clergy Rally at City Temple Seventh Day Adventist Church in Dallas, Texas on Tuesday, April 23, 2019. Several groups came together at the rally in support of the city councils upcoming vote on paid sick leave for Dallas

What to Know: The Dallas Morning News in a new editorial excoriates the Dallas City Council for approving a mandatory paid sick leave ordinance that is going nowhere.

“No one should begrudge an employee for taking a day off when sick,” the editorial reads. “And offering such flexibility is both the decent thing to do and often good for business. Happy and healthy employees are better employees. The question is what role a municipal government should play in requiring that, and whether it doesn’t risk killing jobs instead of protecting workers. The state of Texas appears pretty clear that a city lacks the power to enact such an ordinance. Austin and San Antonio already went down this path. A state appeals court pitched out Austin’s ordinance. The case is pending with state Supreme Court now, with grim prospects.”

The TPPF Take: Texas Public Policy Foundation attorneys led the fight against Austin’s ordinance—and won. The Dallas ordinance is equally unlawful.

“As the Dallas Morning News points out, this vote is merely virtue-signaling on the part of the progressive bloc,” says TPPF’s Rob Henneke. “City government has no business interfering in the employer-employee relationship. While Texas courts have already declared the Dallas Ordinance unconstitutional, It is sound, conservative policymaking for the Texas Legislature to preempt other city interference with employees’ rights to negotiate their terms of employment.”

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