This isn’t meant to discourage people from passing the paid sick days bill in Philly, but here’s the sort of jerk move you can probably expect to see from some restaurants if we win:
We received a tip this afternoon from a reader who noticed that Cherry Street Coffee, which has seven locations in and around downtown Seattle, has just put up shiny new signs at all their registers alerting customers to a new “Sick Leave Surcharge” of 1.5 percent on every order.
The sign reads: “Sick Leave Surcharge: To help offset the costs of the City of Seattle’s paid sick leave policy we are adding a 1.5% surcharge to all orders. We appreciate your understanding and continued patronage.”
When I was in San Francisco on vacation last year, I saw a similar charge on a receipt, notifying me that the restaurant was passing along a city tax to me. Being more pro-tax than most people, my reaction was to feel good about doing my part, but I’m sure many others just find it irritating. Advocates should explore whether it’s legally possible to stop businesses from itemizing the different taxes on their receipts in order to preempt this kind of thing.
The story broke on Friday – and on the following Monday, those signs came down. Who knows why the change of heart – but perhaps the comments from customers had something to do with it?