AUSTIN – A federal judge in Plano issued an injunction yesterday stopping the city of Dallas from enforcing its mandatory paid sick leave mandate that was set to go into effect on April 1.
“Once again, Texas courts are unanimous that it is unconstitutional for cities to mandate paid sick leave,” said Robert Henneke, lead counsel for the plaintiffs in the case and general counsel for the Texas Public Policy Foundation. “These unlawful city policies improperly interfere with the rights of employees to negotiate their own terms of employment. Now is not the time for government to force burdensome regulations upon small business struggling to keep their workers employed and doors open.”
The court found that the plaintiffs had shown a likelihood that the Dallas ordinance violated their Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and was also preempted by Texas state law.
The court ordered, “The City of Dallas’s Paid Sick Leave Ordinance, Dallas, Texas, Ordinance No. 31181; Municipal Code § 20-1–20-12, is ENJOINED and unenforceable. No officer, agent, servant, employee, attorney, or other person in active concert with the City of Dallas may enforce the Paid Sick Leave Ordinance against any business or entity pending the resolution of this case.”
State courts have previously issued injunctions stopping similar mandatory paid sick leave ordinances in both Austin and San Antonio.
Read the Dallas injunction order in full here:
https://www.texaspolicy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Dallas-grant-of-PI.pdf