9to5 Appeals Judge’s Decision, Court of Appeals to Hear the Case (January 2010)
Continuing its fight to make sure that the will of the Milwaukee voters is recognized, 9to5 appealed the lower court’s decision to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. In its briefs, 9to5 showed the flaws in the lower court’s reasoning and made clear that the ballot paid sick days ballot initiative easily met the required legal standard. The National Partnership for Women & Families joined the Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault in filing a friend of the court brief supporting 9to5 and the paid sick days ordinance.
» Learn More: Read the brief submitted by the National Partnership for Women & Families, the Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault
Judge Enjoins Milwaukee Paid Sick Days Ordinance; Voters Urging City to Appeal (June 2009)
Despite the decisive victory in November, longtime opponents from the local business lobby and the Milwaukee Metropolitan Area Chamber of Commerce (MMAC) contested Milwaukee’s paid sick days ordinance in court—and unfortunately won the first round.
While agreeing with 9to5 and the Milwaukee voters on the vast majority of issues raised in the case, in the end, the judge decided that the ordinance could not become law because the ballot question failed to include specific mention that the paid sick days could be used by victims of domestic violence to relocate and attend legal proceedings.
Milwaukee advocates are not giving up the fight. They are working hard to make sure that the City appeals the decision, and the ordinance has its day in court before a fair judge.
Victory! Milwaukee Passes Paid Sick and Safe Days Initiative (November 2008)
On November 4, 2008, Milwaukee voters took the paid sick days movement another step forward by overwhelmingly approving a city-wide paid sick and safe days initiative.
In a 69 percent to 31 percent vote, Milwaukeeans passed a ballot initiative to allow workers to earn one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked. Full-time workers in large businesses will earn up to nine paid sick days a year and workers in smaller businesses with fewer than 10 employees will earn up to five days a year.
Workers may use their sick days for their own care and medical treatment, to care for a sick family member or for safety needs related to those experiencing domestic violence or sexual assault. The initiative will be implemented in February 2009.
9to5 and the Paid Sick Days Milwaukee Coalition collected more than 42,000 signatures from Milwaukeeans to get the paid sick days initiative on the ballot. They then waged a grassroots, door-to-door campaign informing working families about the initiative and distributing more than 200,000 pieces of literature. Their message was simple: working people shouldn’t be forced to choose between their jobs or their paychecks — and their own or their family’s health and safety.
This decisive victory makes Milwaukee the third locality in the country to guarantee workers paid sick days, after San Francisco and Washington, DC. It also sends a powerful message to our national elected leaders: working people strongly support a basic workplace standard of paid sick days!
For a PDF document of all the active paid sick days campaigns, click here. |
