• A proposed sick leave ordinance for the city of Milwaukee has been put on hold after a temporary injunction was granted Friday.
• Marquette is still preparing to make necessary changes if the law goes into effect.
• Paid sick leave for full-time Marquette employees will not change under the ordinance.
• Part-time employees, including students, will receive sick pay on a prorated basis under the new law.

A new paid sick leave ordinance for the city of Milwaukee has been temporarily put on hold, but Marquette is still preparing for changes the law would require.

A Milwaukee County circuit judge granted a temporary injunction Friday against an ordinance approved by Milwaukee voters in November that was supposed to go into effect today.

A hearing for the case filed by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce is set for May 11.

The ordinance would require all private-sector employers to provide paid sick leave to all full-time, part-time and temporary employees. The measure grants up to nine sick days for employees in large companies, and five days for those in small enterprises.

Information Technology Services is working to adjust Marquette's recordkeeping and reporting in order to comply with the ordinance's requirements, said Tim Olsen, communication manager in the Office of Marketing and Communication.

"As one of Milwaukee's largest employers, Marquette will comply with the provisions of the sick leave ordinance when it becomes effective," Olsen said in an e-mail.

The university already offers up to 12 days of paid sick leave per year for full-time staff, Olsen said. This policy would be unaffected since the law only requires up to nine sick days.

"The university already meets or exceeds the requirements of the sick leave ordinance for most employees," Olsen said. "However, there will be some fiscal impact in extending sick leave benefits to student and part-time employees working less than 20 hours per week."

Currently, student employees do not receive paid sick leave, Olsen said. Under the new law, they would receive one hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked.

Olsen said accumulation of sick leave for part-time university employees will be prorated, meaning it will be based proportionally on the number of hours worked.

All employees will be asked to report absences that fall under the ordinance to departmental timekeepers, Olsen said. Students will be expected to notify supervisors of any absence that constitutes sick leave.

Student employees cannot begin accumulating sick leave until the ordinance takes effect.

All employee benefits are paid through the university's annual budget, Olsen said.

The efforts to enact the legislation were led by 9to5, the National Association of Working Women, which helped petition to get the measure on the ballot.

Dana Schultz, an organizer with 9to5, said the ordinance will provide a more flexible workplace.

"Working families shouldn't have to choose between their paycheck and the health of their family," Schultz said.

Besides benefits for workers, the ordinance will help keep the workforce healthy, boost morale in the workplace and help avoid turnover, Schultz said.

Steve Baas, director of governmental affairs for the MMAC, said there is irony in the effects of the law.

"No one is denying that there are difficult individualized situations," Baas said. "The end result (of the ordinance) is it makes workers with the least leverage and skills in the marketplace more expensive to hire. It would hit hardest those who it's trying to help."

Noreen Lephardt, an adjunct associate professor of economics, said the ordinance will have both direct and indirect consequences for Marquette. Not only will it cost money, but it will also make more work for the university in tracking sick days and possibly having to hire more employees to compensate for those taking sick leave, she said.

"The cost of this (measure) will outweigh the benefits by far," Lephardt said. "I think people might have an incentive to call in sick when they have the sniffles if they're getting paid for it."

Although the ordinance will protect workers by paying them wages for absent time, it will add to university operating costs, said Todd Vicker, executive director of the Alumni Memorial Union and Auxiliary Enterprises, a major employer of students on campus.

"We have to find ways to make adjustments," Vicker said. "If there are increased costs, somehow it has to be covered."

Nevertheless, Vicker does not foresee AMU workers, including students, abusing the privileges of the ordinance.

"In my operations, we've got great, committed students," Vicker said. "They're our life blood here. If they're sick, they're sick."

Liz Judy, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences, works about 13 hours per week at the information desk in the AMU.

Judy said the current protocol for sick leave is to e-mail coworkers to find a substitute and to notify student managers. The employees work together to cover shifts, and there usually is not a problem, she said.

If the paid sick leave ordinance becomes law, she said it would not be fair to information desk workers to collect sick pay.

"If someone is working my shift, I shouldn't get paid for not working," Judy said.

Tyler Bridges, a junior in the College of Engineering, works in the McCormick Hall cafeteria. The proposed ordinance could help students working 20 hours per week pay their way through school, he said. But for most students working about ten hours per week in the cafeteria, it would not make much difference.

"It wouldn't be a big benefit," Bridges said. "If you don't come in, someone will cover for you or others will pick up the slack."