Philadelphia City Council Passes Novel Anti-Retaliation Protections Amid COVID-19

By Jordan Konell

On June 25, Philadelphia City Council unanimously passed its “Essential Workers Protection Act,” which will guarantee protection for workers who voice concerns about workplace conditions that violate COVID-19 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or City of Philadelphia public health orders. The bill, sponsored by Philadelphia City Councilmember Helen Gym and signed into law by Mayor Jim Kenney, was spearheaded by more than two dozen labor, advocacy, and nonprofit organizations. The municipal ordinance is thought to be the first of its kind in the nation and aims to protect workers as more businesses re-open, while cases of COVID-19 begin to resurge.

The ordinance mandates that all businesses that employ workers in Philadelphia comply with state and city public health orders that regulate workplace practices to protect the public and workers from the risks of COVID-19. It also prohibits retaliation – including termination, reduction in pay or hours, harassment, threats related to immigration status, or other adverse actions – against Philadelphia workers who report or disclose violations of a COVID-19 public health order in their workplace. Moreover, the ordinance allows workers to decline to work if they reasonably believe that unsafe workplace conditions exist, unless the employer can provide a reasonable work reassignment or has passed a COVID-19 public health order inspection.

The bill’s passage comes in light of a recent National Employment Law Project study showing that approximately one in eight workers have personally experienced or witnessed acts of retaliation for raising concerns about working conditions related to COVID-19. The study also highlights the racial disparities in COVID-related retaliation, with Black workers being more than twice as likely than their white counterparts to have experienced or witnessed possible retaliation by an employer, and to have been forced to continue to work in unsafe conditions because employers fail to resolve the health and safety concerns they raise.

Philadelphia’s Department of Labor, which 82 percent of voters made permanent during the May primary election, will enforce the bill. The ordinance allows for a private right of action if the Department of Labor provides specific authorization by issuing a determination of reasonable cause. Workers who are found to have faced retaliation may be awarded reinstatement, backpay, and other compensatory damages.

The Essential Workers Protection Action applies to all workplaces covered by mandatory public health orders, across sectors, including those whose employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements. Individuals and unions with questions about this new ordinance can contact the labor attorneys at Willig, Williams & Davidson for further assistance.