Voters Approve Paid Sick Leave in Milwaukee
Friday, November 14th, 2008Anne Duffy wrote this article for the American Staffing Association explaining that Milwaukee has passed a ballot that requires private employers to provide paid sick leave for their employees:
Thanks to a ballot initiative passed Nov. 4, Milwaukee has become the third U.S. city to require private employers to provide paid sick leave for their employees. The ballot initiative passed with 69% of voters approving it. Milwaukee joins San Francisco and Washington, DC, in mandating paid leave for employees who suffer from an illness or need to care for a sick child.
Under the measure, Milwaukee employers are required to provide their employees with a minimum of one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to 72 hours of paid sick leave per employee per calendar year. Milwaukee’s definition of employee means “any person who is employed within the geographic boundaries of the city by an employer, and includes a part-time or temporary employee.” Employees of employers with fewer than 10 workers can accrue a maximum of 40 hours of paid leave in a calendar year.
Although employees begin accruing leave at the commencement of their employment, they are not eligible to use accrued sick leave until the 90th calendar day of their employment.
Opponents of the law criticize the ordinance for its overly broad language. The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce plans to challenge the new law in court. MMAC president Tim Sheehy said, “This costly, one-size-fits-all government mandate will have a devastating impact on city businesses in an already unstable economy. This mandate will make the city of Milwaukee an island of regulation, discouraging business development in the region’s core business district and scaring away potential employers that want to locate in the city.”
After reading this article a called a friend Nebi Torbica who owns a bar/lounge called Moct in downtown Milwaukee to ask him what he thought and what other business owners thought. He was very upset and said that most business owners in Milwaukee are upset. His thoughts are:
“…that we are entering a slow time for business because it’s the end of the year, the holidays, and the economy is at its worst in years. This is not the time to introduce something like this. It boggles my mind that these politicians don’t put all factors in consideration before approving or passing a ballot.”
Other cities are also looking to make some changes and follow Milwaukee, but we will see if they will wait or execute immediately.
