In legal battle for sick leave, Milwaukee employees: 0. Lawyers and businesses: 1.

Image by Joe Gratz via Flickr

In February, Milwaukee became only the third city in the nation to enact a sick day ordinance. By June, we were back down to two (San Francisco and Washington, D.C.). That was quick.

It seems that while people really do want change—69 percent of Milwaukee residents voted to pass the Municipal referendum on paid sick leave—it’s hard to come by, full of false starts and, worst of all, lawyers.

One month before Milwaukee’s sick leave law was to go into effect, granting workers one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked, the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) filed suit against the City of Milwaukee to prevent its implementation. MMAC President, Tim Sheehy:

We believe this measure interferes with employers’ rights to negotiate labor agreements with their employees and is an illegal extension of the City of Milwaukee’s authority into areas of law and regulation reserved to the state.

Other business leaders have complained that it’s just not the time for sick leave legislation of any kind, including the federal Healthy Families Act that was reintroduced in Congress this May:

‘Given that small businesses are barely able to keep their heads above water in this economy, we don’t think this is the right legislation to be pushing right now,’ said Susan Eckerly, senior vice president at the National Federation of Independent Business, which represents small-business owners. via New York Times

What about those blissful non-recessionary years businesses have enjoyed? Surely, they were frothing at the mouth to implement sick leave legislation then? I’m afraid not. For employers, it never seems to be quite the right time to improve the inadequacies of the workplace for employees, which is why a city-wide referendum had to happen in the first place.

Judge Thomas Cooper, the fourth judge to be assigned to the case after three others recused themselves, found that Milwaukee’s sick pay ordinance was invalidly enacted and unconstitutional. In his decision, Judge Cooper writes that this is a case “where a proposed ordinance’s reach exceeds it’s grasp,” finding that the referendum question (“Shall the City of Milwaukee adopt Common Council File 080420, being a substitute ordinance requiring employers within the city to provide paid sick leave to employees?”) is too vague. His qualm is that the law allows employees to take time off work if they experience domestic violence, sexual violence, or stalking, but the term “sick leave” does not “reasonably, intelligently, and fairly comprise or reference domestic violence, sexual violence and stalking.” The court dismissed MMAC’s other arguments.

Milwaukee County Circuit Court’s decision is being appealed by 9to5, the organization that led the drive to collect more than 40,000 signatures to to get the measure on the ballot. The City of Milwaukee is still on the fence about whether it will join in the appeal. I wonder what the logic is there. Defending the explicit will of 69 percent of your residents just isn’t worth the paperwork or a fight with business interests?

- Liz