The bill, which passed by a veto-proof margin of 9 to 4, guarantees eight weeks of paid time off to new parents, six weeks to workers caring for ailing family members and two weeks of personal sick time.
To pay for it, the city will levy a new 0.62 percent payroll tax on employers small and large to generate $250 million annually, which will be distributed by a new arm of the city government.
The tax triggered an intense lobbying campaign in the past week, led by major employers in the city as well as the Greater Washington Board of Trade, the D.C. Chamber of Commerce and the Federal City Council. Those groups argued that the city should simply mandate that employers provide paid leave and allow them to decide how to finance it.
Many of the city’s large employers already offer some type of leave, and balked at the idea of also paying taxes to create a fund that would enable smaller businesses to provide similar benefits to their employees.
