The Workers Defense Project, local electrician Joe Hernandez and local restaurant L’Oca d’Oro owner Adam Orman announced Thursday their intervention as defendants in a lawsuit filed by the Texas Association of Business and others against the city of Austin regarding its recently passed paid sick leave ordinance. The new defendants will be represented by the Texas Civil Rights Project. TCRP President Mimi Marziani called the paid sick leave ordinance a “landmark economic justice measure” and said she felt confident in their case against the state, which is arguing that mandated paid sick leave is in conflict with Texas minimum wage law. Marziani called this argument “flawed” because wages do not include fringe benefits like paid sick leave. The ordinance, which was passed by Austin City Council by a vote of 9-2 on Feb. 16, requires private businesses that operate in Austin to provide paid sick leave to their employees. It is scheduled to take effect Oct. 1. The Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Austin, announced April 24 it would file a challenge to the ordinance. “With its mandatory paid sick leave ordinance, the city of Austin once again violates Texas state law and infringes upon the rights of Austin businesses protected by the Texas Constitution,” said Robert Henneke, director of the Center for the American Future, TPPF’s litigation wing, in a news release. The TPPF represents a coalition of organizations serving as plaintiffs in the case. It includes the Texas Association of Business, the American Staffing Association and the National Federation of Independent Businesses, a nonprofit think tank that receives a majority of its funding from Freedom Partners, a conservative economic policy group whose board is made up primarily of Koch Industries-affiliated members. “In enacting the Texas Minimum Wage Act, the Texas Legislature specifically sought to relieve Texas employers of the burden of keeping track of and complying with myriad burdensome local laws,” said Stephen Dwyer, general counsel of the ASA, in the same release. Throwing the state’s support behind the plaintiffs, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed court papers with Travis County District Court on April 30. The Workers Defense Project led a campaign, Work Strong Austin, that convened local business owners, workers and advocates in support of the ordinance. “Every person who works in Austin deserves the opportunity to earn paid sick leave,” WDP Executive Director Jose Garza said at a press conference Thursday evening. The state’s involvement in this case represents a disregard for Austin’s ability to govern itself and the will of its residents who supported this ordinance, according to Marziani. “This has really troubling implications for our democratic process,” she said. Joe Hernandez, one of the plaintiffs, remains hopeful. Although he could not attend the press conference because he was working on a construction site in Dripping Springs, he provided a statement. “I’m confident when we fight back, we can win.”