Court upholds Milwaukee sick pay law

MILWAUKEE, March 24 (UPI) -- The Wisconsin Court of Appeals said Thursday that a paid-sick leave law for Milwaukee was legal two years after it became hung up in court battles.

The ordinance was first enacted by public referendum in November 2008. At that point, 69 percent of voters approved the measure, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

The law requires small businesses to grant at least five days of paid sick leave per year and larger firms to grant nine. It applies to temporary, permanent, part-time and full-time workers, the newspaper said.

However, the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce was granted an injunction to block the ordinance and the issue eventually made it to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, where a judges' vote ended in a 3-3 tie. The state Supreme Court then sent it back to the Court of Appeals.

Steve Baas, director of governmental affairs at the MMAC said Thursday's ruling was "an ironic whammy. It will have a chilling effect on the economy and will be bad for our competitiveness."

He said the business group would continue to push for a state law that would make it illegal for one local government to mandate more paid leave than another.

Robert Kraig of Citizen Action of Wisconsin agreed with Thursday's ruling. "We think it is very good policy for the vast majority of Milwaukee voters," he said.