Wage and Hour 

Wage and Hour midterm election results

Maya Rogers , , ,

wage and hour election resultsDouglas Hass of Franczek Radelet PC recently provided a 2014 election results round-up for the issues of minimum wage and paid sick leave.

Hass says that while the GOP was the big winner of the midterm elections in the headlines, “…if you look just below the fold, minimum wage and paid sick leave initiatives were the other big winners of the night.

Minimum Wage

Five out of five statewide ballot initiatives regarding minimum wage were approved.

  • Arkansas: state minimum wage increase to $8.50 an hour won by 31 percentage points.
  • Nebraska: Initiative 425 passed by close to 20 percentage points, increasing the minimum wage to $9.00 by 2017.
  • South Dakota: Measure 18 won by almost 10 percentage points raising the minimum wage to $8.50 per hour by 2016.
  • Alaska: state minimum wage raised to $9.75 by 2016
  • Illinois: raise in minimum wage to $10.00 an hour passed by two to one.

Paid Sick Leave

Massachusetts is now the third state, along with California and Connecticut, to guarantee paid sick leave. Employers in the state with ten or more employees will have to provide one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked. Employers with less than ten employees will have to provide sick leave, but it does not have to be paid sick leave. The new law allows eligible workers to take paid sick leave when caring for themselves, a spouse, child or parent, and includes anti-retaliation provisions.

Oakland, California and Montclair and Trenton, New Jersey also passed sick pay initiatives in the recent elections.

Looking to the future, Philadelphia and Chicago are considering minimum wage increases in 2015 elections and New Jersey has advanced a paid sick leave bill.

You can read more of Hass’ ‘Wage & Hour Insights’ here.