A Wisconsin judge has struck down Milwaukee’s sick leave law, a fledgling ordinance that never really took off since voters approved it last fall.
Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Thomas R. Cooper on Friday held that the ordinance, which would have required local businesses to provide employees with paid sick days, was unconstitutional and invalidly enacted.
Milwaukee, San Francisco and Washington are the only three cities in the country to have adopted paid sick-leave laws in recent years, although no legal challenges have surfaced elsewhere.
Not so in Milwaukee, where the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC), a group representing businesses, challenged the bill on a number of grounds, calling it burdensome and unconstitutional.
In granting summary judgment to the MMAC, Cooper objected to a provision within the ordinance that would have made domestic abuse victims eligible for paid sick days for taking time off to seek shelter or pursue legal action. He held that such domestic-abuse related time off is not a public safety issue and that, because that part of the ordinance was improperly constructed, the entire measure is invalid.
“The provisions regarding domestic violence and sexual assault are not rationally related to the ordinance’s overall objective of protecting the public welfare, health, safety and prosperity of the city,” Cooper wrote.
Employee rights advocates who pushed for the ordinance adamantly disagree, and vow to appeal.
“What’s at stake is the fact that we have 122,000 Milwaukeeans without paid sick days, and justice delayed could have very serious health and economic consequences,” said Barbara Zack Quindel of Milwaukee’s Hawks Quindel Ehlke & Perry, who is representing Wisconsin 9 to 5, a workers advocacy group that pushed to get the ordinance passed.
Quindel believes the judge’s ruling ignores the will of the voters, which, she said, was to give employees, especially low-income workers, paid sick days.
“To wipe out the whole thing and then somehow believe that that is the more consistent way to reflect the will of the people is very puzzling,” Quindel said.
Quindel, who is planning an appeal, also disagrees with the judge’s finding that domestic abuse-related time off does not fall into the category of sick leave or amount to a public safety issue. She argued that victims should be able to get a paid sick day in order to get to to a safe place or file a restraining order.
“You could write a prescription for their physical wounds, but part of preventing further injury to them is that they’re in a safe place, and that they can go to court and restrain their harasser or abuser,” Quindel said. “We have a tremendous problem of domestic violence in our city.”
Under the ordinance, employers with 10 or more employees are required to provide paid sick leave to employees up to a maximum of 72 hours per employee per year. Employers with fewer than 10 employees are required to provide the benefit to employees up to a maximum of 40 hours per employee per year.
That sounds burdensome and expensive, said management-side attorney Jason Rothman of the Cleveland office of Jackson Lewis, who observed the Milwaukee case closely.
“It would definitely be something challenging for employers to deal with,” Rothman said of the sick leave law. “There were probably employers out there who didn’t know what was going on.”
Rothman believes the judge made the right call, noting that some employers may have left Milwaukee due to the ordinance.
“It’s obviously a good decision for an employer,” Rothman said of the ruling. “Employers don’t really want to deal with these types of things that they don’t have to.” And they don’t want to take the chance of being noncompliant, Rothman added, noting, “All it takes is one small mistake, and there’s potential for some pretty serious ramifications.”
Attorney Scott Beightol of Milwaukee’s Michael Best & Friedrich, who represented the MMAC, was unavailable for comment.
Many city officials, meanwhile, are applauding the judge’s ruling, saying tht paid sick leave should be addressed in Congress, not at the local level.
“My position has always been Milwaukee should not be an island. That’s why it’s important this issue be addressed at the federal level. I support sick leave legislation at the federal level,” Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said in a statement.
Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker expressed similar sentiments.
“This is good news for everyone concerned about jobs in Milwaukee. Had the sick leave ordinance been implemented, it would have surely driven jobs out of the city. We can not afford to push jobs out of our community,” Walker said in a statement.
Tresa Baldas can be reached at [email protected].
