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What I’ve Been Reading This Week


I will keep this post short as many readers are likely en route to someplace for Christmas (or are knee deep in gift wrapping.)  So while I could go on and on with a bit of a preamble here, I will just cut to the chase.

As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week.


Illinois Hourly Minimum Wage Rate Rises to $12/Hour in January

For those unaware, there is a recurring minimum wage hike in Illinois after Governor J.B. Pritzker signed legislation into law in 2019 to raise the state’s hourly minimum wage rate to $15/hour by 2025.   The current hourly wage rate of $10/hour will increase to $12/hour on January 1st.  For those employers in the state that have not made plans to account for this increase in labor costs…now is as good of a time as any to do so.


San Francisco Moves One Step Closer to Approving Paid Sick Leave For Nannies & Gardeners

Earlier this month, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a proposal that would provide paid sick leave to nannies and gardeners working in the city.  Under this proposal, which is estimated to impact nearly 10,000 workers, employers would be required to pay into a sick leave fund 1 hour for each 30 hours these workers worked.  While this proposal still has to be approved with a second vote by the Board of Supervisors as well as by Mayor London Breed, this is believed to be the first such proposal to potentially become law.  Stay tuned.

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What I’ve Been Reading This Week

A few years ago, I remember when the “Fight for $15” movement was taking off around the country.  Lo and behold, it appears that a $15/hour minimum wage is not the stopping point, which should be no surprise.  As the below article notes, New York is aggressively moving to ramp up hourly wage rates even higher.  While all the  below articles are worth a read, I called particular attention to that one. As always, below are a couple article that caught my eye this week. Disney World Workers Reject Latest Contract Offer Late last week, it was announced that workers at Disney World had rejected the most recent contract offer from the company, calling on their employer to do better.  As Brooks Barnes at The New York Times writes, the unions that represent about 32,000 workers at Disney World reported their members resoundingly rejected the 5 year contract offer which would have seen workers receive a 10% raise and retroactive increased back pay.  While Disney’s offer would have increased pa