Implementing a new law is always a complex process. But what happens when you are the first jurisdiction in the country to pass such a law? This was the unique challenge facing San Francisco when it passed the nation’s first earned sick days law in 2006. The City and County government took on the challenge admirably, employing a variety of creative strategies to conduct outreach to the public, write meaningful rules, and ensure the law would be properly enforced.
In 2006, San Francisco became the first place in the United States to pass an earned sick days law, the San Francisco Paid Sick Leave Ordinance (PSLO). San Francisco’s City and County government1 promptly became a trailblazer – not only in terms of the passage of the law, but also through its implementation process.