New York Daily News - June 27, 2013, by Tina Moore & Erin Durkin - The City Council overrode Mayor Bloomberg’s veto Thursday and made New York the largest city in the country to require paid sick leave for workers.

The council also approved the city's new $70 billion budget, held Madison Square Garden at a 10-year operating permit and abolished a ban on brunch before noon at outdoor cafes.

The veto override came after a protracted battle over the paid sick-leave legislation that was first proposed in 2009.

Council Speaker Christine Quinn brought the bill to the floor for a vote in May under intense pressure from political opponents and labor unions. Bloomberg then vetoed the measure, saying it would damage businesses.

The legislation forces tens of thousands of city businesses with at least 20 employees to offer five paid sick days a year beginning in April 2014.

The following year, the mandate would extend to businesses with at least 15 workers.

One million workers eventually will be covered by the bill, which also prevents companies from firing employees for taking unpaid sick days.

Before the vote, bill sponsor Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan) led a rally on City Hall’s steps in support of the override, boasting that “nobody will be fired if they are ill."

Union Local 32BJ President Hector Figueroa said New York started a movement that would sweep across the country.

“We are going to take this legislation now to other states and other cities,” he said. “People don’t need to be worried anymore about losing their job because they have to take care of a loved one.”

The $70 billion budget passed by the Council does not include tax increases and provides $58 million for the New York City Housing Authority to avoid most of 500 threatened layoffs.

The plan also saves 20 fire companies that Bloomberg’s budget had proposed shutting, keeps city pools open and restores $144 million for thousands of child care and after-school seats that were at risk.

The Council also voted to give Madison Square Garden a 10-year permit to continue operating at its current location over Pennsylvania Station.

The Garden had requested permission to operate at the site in perpetuity. Last month, the city planning commission approved a 15-year extension.

But Quinn said finding a new home for the arena was the only way to build a new Penn Station and called for a commission to find a new location in Manhattan. A representative for the Garden declined to comment.

The council also voted to abolish a law that prevented cafes from serving brunch outdoors before noon, changing the start time to the a.m.

The old restriction was “silly and it’s outdated and deserves to be changed,” Councilman Dan Garodnick (D-Manhattan) said. “We have found that that rule is not really serving anybody. It is a burden on small business and it is an obstacle to the many brunch loving New Yorkers out there.”

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