Walker signs bill to kill Milwaukee sick leave law

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Gov. Scott Walker today signed a bill into law that kills the controversial Milwaukee sick leave law.
The bill signed by Walker prohibits municipalities from enacting local sick leave mandates on private employers.
Walker signed the bill at the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) offices. Critics of the sick leave law, including the MMAC and numerous business owners and executives, said it would discourage businesses from locating in the city of Milwaukee and creating jobs in the city because the law only applied to companies doing business within the city limits.
“Patchwork government mandates stifle job creation and economic opportunity,” Walker said. “This law gives employers the flexibility they need to put people back to work and that makes Wisconsin a more attractive place to do business.”
The sick leave law was created through direct legislation when 69 percent of city voters approved it in the November 2008 election.
The sick leave mandate would have required private sector employers in the city of Milwaukee to offer paid sick leave to all employees. Workers would earn one hour of sick leave for 30 hours worked, and up to nine days of sick leave per year. Businesses with 10 or fewer employees would be required to provide up to five days a year of paid sick time.
9to5 National Association of Working Women, which circulated petitions to get the sick leave law on the 2008 ballot, expressed outrage today that Walker signed the bill to kill it.
“The override of the Milwaukee sick days law is an assault on democracy, local control, and working families,” said Dana Schultz, lead organizer for 9to5 National Association of Working Women. “Voters can see that the governor and state Legislature are more committed to paying back their corporate donors than creating good jobs for Wisconsin.”
The Milwaukee sick leave mandate was never enacted. After the referendum was passed in 2008, the MMAC filed a legal challenge arguing the law was unconstitutional. A Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge ruled in favor of the MMAC, but 9to5 appealed the judge’s ruling. The state Supreme Court deadlocked on the matter last year. In March, the state Court of Appeals ruled in favor of 9to5 and upheld the sick leave law. But before it could be enacted the Republican-controlled state Legislature quickly moved to pass the bill, signed today by Walker, to kill it.
– BizTimes Milwaukee

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