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North Carolina Democrats Introduce Bill to Raise Minimum Wage Rates, Require Equal Pay, Provide Paid Sick Leave, Expand Collective Bargaining, & Ban the Box


Ok, this one is a doozy.  Hang with me here while I break down a bill that North Carolina Democrats introduced in the State Legislature last week.  To say this bill, the Economic Security Act of 2017, covers a lot (if not most of the 'traditional' employment law topics) would be an understatement.


Minimum Wage

Currently, the hourly minimum wage rate in the state is set at $7.25/hour.  This bill would seek to scale in a wage hike to get the hourly minimum wage rate to $15/hour by 2021.  (And from $2.15/hour to $5/hour for hourly tipped workers).

Equal Pay

Employers in the state would be required to pay male and female workers equal wages 'for the same quantity and quality of the same classification of work' (with exceptions carved out for seniority or other factors that would result in different pay...although that last exception seems somewhat vague, doesn't it??).  

Paid Sick Leave

Employers would also be required to allow their employees to accrue an hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked.  Perhaps one of the interesting portions of this part of the bill is that employees would be allowed to use that paid sick leave either for their own illness or to care for a sick family member.

Collective Bargaining

If approved, this bill would prohibit the longstanding ban on collective bargaining for unions that represent government employees. 

Ban the Box

Under this portion of the bill, government agencies would be banned from asking about an applicant's criminal history until the employer made a 'conditional offer of employment'.  Readers might recall that this ban the box measure is not unlike other similar measures that have been introduced around the country before (phrased another way, this part of the bill could garner support from both sides of the aisle).  


With all that being said, the North Carolina state legislature is controlled by Republicans who could, in essence, prevent any portion of his bill from becoming law.  In fact, Representative Pricey Harrison (a Democrat from Greensville) concedes that at the very least, the minimum wage portion of the bill is not likely to pass.  However, other portions, such as ban the box (as referenced above), could find enough bi-partisan support to succeed.  Interesting to see which (if any) Republicans jump on board with the entirety of this bill (or perhaps which portions of the bill Democrats can get enough Republicans to support).



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