On the broader subject of mandatory paid sick leave, the county legislature in Albany County New York surprised many when, by a 21 -17 tally, it voted down a mandatory paid sick leave proposal it has been debating for over a year. The proposal would have required private employers within the county to provide their workers with 5 days of paid sick leave per year. We would expect those pushing the proposal to reintroduce the measure again in the next session. In the Nation’s Capital of Washington DC, where the Universal Paid Leave Act passed in 2016, the payroll tax funding mechanism becomes effective next week on July 1 and the District will start collecting the 0.62% quarterly payroll tax for the 2^nd quarter from April 1 through June 30. Employers will be responsible for paying the tax whether they had set aside the requisite funds or not, notwithstanding the fact that the actual benefit itself – a percent of salary paid to employees on eligible leave – will not be available to employees until July of 2020.