Updated: Court Rules in Favor of Earned Sick Time Backers
Monday, September 17, 2012
By: Matthew Peddie

A panel of judges has ruled in favor of groups backing mandatory sick time for employees in Orange County, and ordered the county to put the measure on the November ballot.

Earned Sick time supporters took the county to court after commissioners voted last week to block the ballot measure.

Today a panel of judges issued a ruling saying there is "a facially sufficient claim for relief”.

"Accordingly, Respondent, Orange County, is hereby commanded to grant the relief requested in the Amended Complaint or to answer the allegations in the Amended Complaint as provided by law," the ruling states.

Citizens for a Greater Orange County re-filed an amended complaint Monday morning after the judges said they sued the wrong respondent. 

They also faced a deadline to get the measure approved by Tuesday, when the ballots are sent to the printers. 

Stephanie Porta of Organize Now, one of the groups behind the sick time measure, says more than 50 thousand people signed a petition to put earned sick time on the November ballot.

Porta says similar measures have been passed in other cities across the US, including Philadelphia, Portland and San Francisco.

"It's happening all over the country right now, and it really makes sense in an economy that's so focused on tourism that everyone is healty to work," she says.