Paid Sick Leave Becomes Law
But MMAC wants it struck down
Could 157,117 voters be wrong?
On Election Day, 69% of Milwaukee voters supported mandating
paid sick leave for workers at private companies in the city. But the
Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) is trying to reverse that decision.
The
business organization has filed a notice of claim with the city,
putting City Hall on notice that it may sue to strike down the
ordinance.
According to a memo drafted by attorneys at Michael
Best & Friedrich LLP, MMAC does not believe that the city has the
power to require employers to provide up to nine paid sick days per
year. It also believes that MMAC’s members would “suffer financial
injury” if they are forced to comply with the ordinance.
Milwaukee joins Washington, D.C., and San Francisco in requiring paid sick days and, at least in San Francisco, no “financial injury” has been reported.
In fact, the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, which represents restaurants in San Francisco,
now supports that city’s sick leave ordinance after initially opposing
it. “The mandate is affordable, considering the public benefit,” Kevin
Westlye, the group’s executive director, told the Los Angeles Times.
Respecting Voters
The ordinance requires private companies that employ more than 10 workers to provide nine paid sick days per year, while companies that employ fewer than 10 workers must provide five days off per year. Workers must accrue the paid time off during the year.
Roughly half of Milwaukee’s
private-sector workers—about 122,230 people— did not have paid sick days
until this ordinance was passed. About seven out of eight food service
employees were not covered by paid sick leave policies.
According
to the U.S. Department of Labor, about 80% of management-level workers
nationwide have paid sick leave, while only 39% of service workers have
this benefit.
9to5, National Association of Working Women organized the petition drive to place the question on the ballot. Sangita Nayak, an organizer with 9to5, said that the city should honor the will of the vast majority of Milwaukee’s voters, even though Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett opposed the ordinance. “This is a policy decision that was passed by Milwaukeeans and should be respected,” Nayak said. “We hope the mayor’s office is doing what they need to do to move this forward quickly.”
Resolving Legal Issues
Julie
Granger, vice president of communications for MMAC, said that the MMAC
board would likely decide whether it would formally challenge the
ordinance at its Nov. 17 meeting. “They are really digging
into what the legal issues are and whether there would be grounds for
fighting this ordinance,” Granger said. “It is not certain.”
Sherry Leiwant, of A Better Balance: The Work and Family Legal Center, helped to draft the ordinance based on language in a similar ordinance that was adopted in San Francisco in late 2006. She said that version has not been challenged in court.
Leiwant said that Milwaukee has the authority to mandate paid sick leave for employees in the private sector because federal and state laws do not cover paid sick leave. “There’s no conflict,” Leiwant said.
She said that the Milwaukee
city attorney’s office reviewed the ordinance prior to it being on the
Nov. 4 ballot as direct legislation—meaning that voters could ratify it
directly, without a veto from the mayor or a vote by the Milwaukee
Common Council.
She said that a few technical changes were
requested by the city during that review process. “I think there were
some ways that things had to be phrased to make it consistent with the
statutes and other ordinances, just to conform with other laws on the
books,” Leiwant said. “But nothing substantive was requested.”
Assistant
City Attorney Tom Miller said that his office reviewed the ordinance to
determine whether it fell into the scope o what was appropriate for a
piece of direct legislation. He said the city attorney’s office did not
work with 9to5 to help craft the language of the ordinance itself. The
office routinely offers its opinion on proposed legislation developed
by members of the Milwaukee Common Council. “I don’t believe
that our office was asked to have any role in that,” Miller said.
Miller said the ordinance will be implemented by the city’s Department of Employee Relations, which will work out the details of compliance. Companies that employ workers in Milwaukee will be required to comply after a 90-day rulemaking period.
A Financial Hardship?
Although the MMAC memo states that the ordinance would create financial hardship for its members, Granger said the bigger issue is one of flexibility for employers. “I think this really flies in the face of being able to tailor benefits to the employee base that you have,” Granger said.
She said that the majority of MMAC’s members provide paid sick
leave to their employees, but that she didn’t have an exact number of
the members that do so. If their policies meet or exceed what is now
required by the ordinance, they will not have to make any changes.
Although
MMAC is predicting that the new ordinance would have a negative impact
on Milwaukee’s economic future, Granger said that MMAC has not
determined the total cost to employers of either providing paid sick
days or of administering the new requirements. “I think it’s going to be a different cost for every business,” Granger said.
However, a study by the nonpartisan Washington,
D.C.-based Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) found that
Milwaukee businesses would save $15 million per year because of the new
requirements, because paid sick days would lead to less turnover and
higher productivity.
What’s your take? Write: editor@shepex.com or comment on this story online at www.expressmilwaukee.com.
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