In a three-hour marathon hearing yesterday, the City Council Commission on Health heard testimonies from more than eight panels of city workers and business leaders regarding the Earned Sick Leave Bill. The session resulted in a unanimous approval to push the bill forward.

The first testimony was from Everett Gillison, chief of staff to the mayor’s office. Despite Mayor Nutter’s well-documented opposition to the bill, which was first brought to Philadelphia in 2008, Gillison expressed his enthusiastic support for earned paid leave. “Earned” is the keyword. One accrued hour of paid sick leave per 40 hours of work totals to five days per year — that’s what employers would be mandated to provide if the bill passes.

Most of the panels, comprised of one to three persons each, showed unwavering support. The first half of the hearing was flooded with comprehensive research and varied anecdotal evidence that endorsed the need for paid sick leave.

“Low income workers, people of color, and women are disproportionately affected by the absence of a paid sick leave mandate,” Natalie Levkovich, chief executive officer for the Health Federation of Philadelphia, said in the third panel. “Those who lack paid sick leave are forced to make impossible decisions.”

Among the other speakers was Khalid Pitts, a restaurant owner from Washington D.C. where earned paid leave has already been enacted. Pitts said his business has gotten better since the law went into effect, and that employees have showed more interest in working for him.

Fatima Hassan runs a small daycare in the Overbrook section of Philadelphia. She has been offering her employers paid sick leave not only for health reasons, but out of “respect for them as humans.”

Restaurant workers also spoke out of the sometimes draconian demands of the service industry. According to Councilman Bill Greenlee, the complaints of service industry workers were among the most prevalent he heard while carving the bill over the years. Jason McCarthy, who has been working in Philly restaurants for 23 years, said he’s had no choice but to work through the most trying symptoms — from broken bones to diarrhea.

Critics of the bill testified on behalf of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Hotel Association of Philadelphia, and PA Restaurant and Lodging Association. None of them said they disagreed with the bill. Dan Calista, founder and CEO of Vynamic, called it “well-intentioned” numerous times. However, they all expressed interest in tailoring the bill as much as possible before passing it.

To the Chamber of Commerce’s concerns that it would drive business out of the city, Councilwoman Marian Tasco retorted that, when the city wanted to ban smoking in restaurants, people said that no one would go eat in the suburbs instead. They didn’t.

To the Hotel Association’s concerns that the bill would de-incentivize hotel business in the city by causing a downfall in service, Tasco cited that a hotel has never opened in Philadelphia without numerous tax breaks.

To the general, biased claim that individuals would take advantage of the sick leave bill’s vague conditions, Greenlee reminded everyone that he’s more concerned about employers taking advantage of their employees.

In the final panel, Helen Gym called the issue of paid sick leave “as much a moral issue as it is a political issue.”

City Council will hear the bill at their next city council session on Thursday.