The Human Resources office will soon begin preparing to implement the provisions of the "Accrued Sick and Safe Leave Act of 2008," which the D.C. Council passed March 4, according to Beth Muha, the executive director of the Human Resources office.
All employers in D.C. have six months after the act is ratified to implement the provisions of the bill. Mayor Adrian Fenty is expected to sign the act soon, according to The Washington Post.
Muha said she would now have to meet with Human Resources staff and Information Technology staff in the next six months to figure out how the policy will affect student workers and how administrative staff will implement the changes.
"I'm glad we're getting six months, because we are going to need it," she said.
Of the roughly 8,000 individuals employed by the university each year, only 2,400 are full-time staff. Most of the part-time employees are students, Muha said.
The bill will exclude part-time student workers under 22 years of age who work less than 25 hours per week.
Muha said she maintained a close eye on the development of the bill to see what possible changes would be required if it passed. These possible changes included new technology the Human Resources office would have to purchase or how many students the bill would affect.
"I was watching, observing and trying to get ready," she said.
Muha said she attended a meeting of the D.C. Board of Trade in January that allowed her to see how the business community shaped some of the language of the bill.
The Consortium of Universities in D.C., which AU belongs to, lobbied for the act to exclude part-time student workers and other seasonal and temporary contract university employees.
"[The consortium] felt coverage for part-time student workers and other seasonal and temporary contract employees was inconsistent with the bill's intent," said AU Presidential Chief of Staff David Taylor.
The act provides paid leave to employees who are ill or who have family members who are ill. The legislation also gives time off for victims of domestic or sexual violence, The Eagle previously reported.
Covering part-time student workers would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in increased payroll costs to monitor and pay sick leave to each student, according to Taylor.
AU had no direct involvement in this legislation but supported the consortium's work on the bill, he said.
Universities have a different working environment than other workplaces, Muha said.
"We have a casual workplace, a large workforce and many student workers," she said.
Domestic abuse cases, for example, rarely occur to university employees, according to Muha.
Karen Minatelli, deputy director of the D.C. Employment Justice Center, said the center's members were pleased with the bill but hoped the act would eventually broaden to include those exempted.
"We have done a lot to ensure that this bill was as strong as possible," she said.
The D.C. Employment Justice Center is the organization that introduced the bill to sponsor and D.C. Councilmember Carol Schwartz, according to Minatelli. They came up with the legislation after numerous individuals visited their office when they experienced domestic violence and were not granted sick leave to recover.
