AUSTIN, Texas — Texas business leaders are suing the City of Austin to stop its paid sick leave requirement from taking effect Oct. 1.

The conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation is leading the lawsuit on behalf of trade groups and a handful of temporary staffing agencies. The trade groups include the Texas Association of Business, which represents the Austin Chamber of Commerce at a statewide level, and the National Federation of Independent Business.

Plaintiffs claim the city's law requiring paid sick leave for almost all employers violates the Texas Constitution. Starting Oct. 1, employers would have to give employees one hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked. Any complaints could prompt city officials to inspect a company's personnel files without a warrant, attorney Rob Henneke said.

MORE | Austin Paid Sick Leave Ordinance

"It is an incredible power grab by the City of Austin," he said. "The city just wants to give itself the power to go in and take HR files, payroll records, any kind of business records that it would choose to seize."

Henneke said the ordinance also violates due course of law by superseding the Texas Minimum Wage Act and the Texas Constitution's Equal Protection clause by exempting labor unions from the ordinance.

The Center for Public Policy Priorities partnered with Workers Defense Project, an Austin-based labor rights advocacy group, to support the ordinance Austin City Council adopted Feb. 15.

"Over 200,000 workers would benefit from the policy and there would be a net gain for businesses of up to $5 million annually," CPPP's Ann Beeson said, referring to data collected by the Institute for Women's Policy Research.

MORE | IWPR Paid Sick Days Impact Study

Beeson said requiring employers to provide paid sick leave is a public health policy.

"Many of them are food workers," she said. "Do we really want people working in restaurants when they are sick?"

Beeson said her group plans to continue its support for the pending ordinance as it faces the legal challenge.

District 4 Council Member Greg Casar, representing North Austin, led efforts to get the ordinance passed by the City Council.

"Extremist organizations like the Texas Public Policy Foundation have made it clear that they want to keep working people down-- the United States is the only advanced economy in the world that doesn’t require paid leave as a basic workplace standard," Casar said in a statement. "Working families in Austin aren’t going to let these out of touch groups take away our right to self-determination or our right to a fair workplace."

Henneke said his clients are concerned the paid sick leave ordinance could cost jobs.

"Businesses now have to factor that into account when deciding: do I hire more, or do I renew my lease," he said.

The battle between public health and Constitutional protections awaits a judge's decision in Travis County Civil District Court.