• Marquette economic professors think Milwaukee's paid sick leave ordinance will hurt the city.
• Professors think many businesses will be negatively affected by new ordinance.
• Milwaukee suburbs consider laws against passing ordinances in terms of wages or benefits.
• Law similar to Milwaukee's implemented in San Francisco and considered a success.

In November, Milwaukee voters passed a referendum mandating paid sick days for workers in the city. Now, Milwaukee's suburbs consider passing legislation making this more difficult to happen in their municipalities.

The referendum essentially mandates any business to give nine paid sick days for anyone working more than 40 hours a week, said Noreen Lephardt, professor in the College of Business Administration.

According to the Web site for 9to5, the National Association of Working Women, 69 percent of Milwaukeeans voted to approve the referendum. This percentage translates into 157,117 citizen votes according to the site. Seema Singh, an organizer for Milwaukee's 9to5 chapter, said the group was at the forefront of having the referendum placed on the ballot.

Many of Milwaukee's suburbs have passed or are considering legislation that would make it more difficult for this kind of legislation to pass.

"There's nothing we can do to completely prevent it," said West Allis Mayor Dan Devine.

West Allis' recently-passed ordinance states any municipal ordinance in terms of wages or benefits will not be imposed in West Allis, said city attorney Scott Post. West Allis was the first city to pass this kind of law. Other suburbs have taken this ordinance and modified it, he said.

The law was passed in response to Milwaukee's recent ordinance, Post said.

The problem with Milwaukee's new ordinance is that businesses will either enforce the new policy, relocate to avoid the added cost imposed by the law or go out of business, said David Clark, chair of the economics department.

The mandate tries to redistribute income at a lower level by imposing additional costs on businesses, Clark said.

Singh said 9to5 was involved with the referendum because it was important to families and to the health of Milwaukee. "Everything we've heard will help these businesses," Singh said, citing San Francisco as an example.

After having established the paid sick leave mandate in Milwaukee, 9to5 will support a similar national mandate, Singh said. She said the Healthy Families Act, which deals with paid sick leave for certain employers, was implemented locally before becoming a national law.

The Wisconsin Restaurant Association, an opponent of Milwaukee's new ordinance, believes paid sick leave should be dealt with at the federal level instead of the state or local level, said Peter Hanson, Director of Government Relations for WRA.

To avoid added costs, Clark said some businesses will engage in "border hopping" and will move to a nearby location where businesses can maintain their client base but be subject to the laws of a different municipality.

Milwaukee suburbs will benefit from the movement of firms outside of the city, Clark said.

Almost two years ago, San Francisco passed a referendum similar to Milwaukee's said Greg Asay, a senior analyst for San Francisco's Office of Labor Standards Enforcement.

"We certainly have not seen an exodus because of this law," Asay said.

No formal study has been done on the changes in San Francisco's economy due to the paid sick leave mandate, but broad economic indicators give a clue as to what is happening.

"The economic impact on businesses has been minimal but the impact on working people has been real," Asay said.

San Francisco continues to outperform the rest of California with no increase in unemployment until after the recession hit, Asay said. The national economy began its decline a full year after San Francisco's new legislation had been in place.