Congress is not the only source of expensive legislative reform for American employers to monitor. The movement to mandate paid sick leave has grown largely outside of Capitol Hill. On election day this month, Milwaukee, Wisconsin became the third city in the country to require employers within the city to provide sick leave to employees. San Francisco was the first and Washington, DC the second.
Sixty-eight percent of the voters approved the ordinance, which requires employers to provide sick leave at the rate of one hour for every 30 hours worked. Employers with fewer than 10 employees must allow up to 40 hours of sick leave each calendar year. Larger employers must grant up to 72 hours per year.
The City Clerk’s office officially published the referendum on November 12, 2008. Employers will have to comply 90 days after the date of publication. Administrative rules providing clarification should be ready by February.
The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce has filed notice that it intends to challenge the city’s authority to require sick pay. A copy of the ordinance can be found at:
http://cctv25.milwaukee.gov/code/volume1/ch112.pdf
A paid sick leave ballot measure intended for the Nov. 4 election in Ohio was pulled from the ballot — but only because its supporters expected Congress to pass a federal law mandating paid sick leave once Barack Obama is elected President, since he made campaign promises to promote the law.
To put this in context, paid sick leave is part of a broader, growing movement to enhance leave benefits for employees. Several states (California, New York, New Jersey and others) mandate short-term disability (STD) benefits. New Paid Family Leave laws in California, Washington and New Jersey extend the sick-leave benefit for FMLA-type absences. Paid sick leave may be even more costly than STD benefits, however, when they provide coverage from day 1 of the absence, whereas STD benefits typically begin after an elimination period of 3 to 7 days of absence.
It remains to be seen where paid sick leave and its sibling benefits will get legislative traction, in Congress or states or municipalities. The Democrat-dominated Congress may be slowed in creating new benefits and universal health care, due to the continuing cost of bailing out America’s still-wobbly economy. The same factors also may impede creation of new benefits by states and municipalities.
