City of Milwaukee Sits Out Sick Leave Appeal
As most of you know, if you’ve read my previous postings (see June 12, 2009), the City of Milwaukee passed, through so-called direct legislation, an ordinance requiring employers to provide paid sick leave for all workers. The legislation was later found unconstitutional because, among other things, the phrasing of the issue on the ballot was overly vague.
Proponents of the legislation appealed the ruling. Last week, the City of Milwaukee announced that it was not joining in the appeal. Naturally, the private groups supporting the legislation and the appeal (in all other instances known as special interest groups) argue that by not joining the appeal, the City is turning its back on all those who voted in favor of the legislation.
This argument ignores the finding of the court that the phrasing of the issue on the ballot left the voters without a real understanding of what they were voting on. However illogical, the argument is typical of that used to support this and similar issues that require business owners (including stockholders) to subsidize services provided to the community at large.
This article in the Wisconsin Law Journal discusses the issues in greater detail.
