by Mike Hall, Mar 24, 2011
More than two years after Milwaukee voters overwhelmingly passed a paid sick leave city ordinance, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals today upheld the law and lifted an injunction an employer’s group was granted in June 2009.
But Republican state legislators are backing a bill that would prevent Wisconsin cities and towns from establishing their own paid sick leave laws. Dana Schultz, lead organizer for 9to5, the National Association of Working Women, says:
Milwaukeeans have made their decision on paid sick days, and now the courts have upheld their vote. The State Legislature should not be trying to rob voters in Milwaukee and cities across the state of their basic right to local decision-making on sick days or any other laws….It’s time for the State Legislature to stop its attacks on hard-working families and get to work on policies that will help create jobs and grow our economy.
In November 2008 voters approved by 70 percent the ordinance that requires large businesses to provide employees with up to nine sick days a year and small businesses up to five sick days. But in June 2009, employers were granted an injunction in legal battle that wound its way to the state Supreme Court and then back to the Court of Appeals.
