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With the threat of a ballot initiative looming, the D.C. Council and Mayor Muriel Bowser were able to work out a compromise for raising the minimum wage to $15. But two other labor laws cheered by progressive activists and aggressively fought by the retail industry and other business groups will have to wait for the fall at the earliest.
The D.C. Council will head to a summer recess after today’s legislative meeting without having taken a vote on two closely watched bills: one which would give Washingtonians the most generous paid family leave in the country and another that would require chain stores and restaurants give advanced notice for schedule changes.
The Hours and Scheduling Stability Act has had a bumpy ride—only narrowly making it out of committee (with two councilmembers who originally co-sponsored the bill voting against it) before being removed from today’s agenda before the full Council. If passed, food and retail outlets with 40 or more establishments nationwide would be required to give at least 14 days of advanced notice for work schedules, or face fines.
It had drawn ire from retail groups who say it would place an undue burden on businesses—drawing concerns by national retailers like Wegman’s as well as some local companies, like Ben’s Chili Bowl, that wouldn’t actually be affected by the law.
“There’s a great deal of concern about how the details of the scheduling bill would play out in real life,” D.C. Council chairman Phil Mendelson said at a press conference today, the Washington Times reported.
Meanwhile, the D.C. Family and Medical Leave Act—which originally would have guaranteed four months of paid family leave in the wake of the birth or adoption of a child, to care for a sick family member, or to recover from a serious health condition—was also pushed to the fall as the Council continues to look at the cost implications of the bill.
Or, as The Washington Post strangely put it, “go ahead and have that baby” instead of waiting for this to pass and be implemented. At the earliest, the Post estimates, it wouldn’t be in place until 2018. And Bowser has suggested a task force study the proposal in detail.
Still, Grosso, who co-authored the bill with Elissa Silverman, pledged to push forward. “I’m disappointed that we’re not moving forward, however I remain committed to the goals of the bill and to enactment by the end of the year,” he said in a release. “We will continue our efforts over the summer recess to get a bill that is progressive and fiscally responsible that we can act on in September.”
Rachel Sadon