Juan Salinas II
LINCOLN — Labor activists stood in the Capitol Rotunda during Thursday morning’s agenda and criticized a pair of legislative bills seeking to weaken voter-approved minimum wage and paid sick leave laws, which keep marching on in the Nebraska statehouse.
Worker advocates and union leaders spoke out against the proposed changes as attempts to undermine the will of Nebraska voters, who over the past three years have approved increasing wages and paid leave for all workers via ballot measure.
Nebraska voters approved a ballot measure last November to establish a minimum level of paid sick leave for all workers. The initiative mandates that Nebraska businesses provide employees up to seven days of paid sick leave for businesses with at least 20 employees and five days a year for those with fewer than 20 employees. In 2022, Nebraska voters passed a ballot measure to increase the state minimum wage to $15 per hour starting next year. The measure’s design raised the minimum wage by increments to reach that point.
What the bills would do
Legislative Bill 258, by State Sen. Jane Raybould of Lincoln, would limit who can get a wage increase in 2027. The proposed change to the initiative would cap the minimum wage at $13.50 per hour for Nebraskans younger than 16 years old, except for those legally free from parental control and responsibility.
LB 698, proposed by State Sen. Paul Strommen of Sidney, would raise the minimum number of employees a business must have to be obligated to provide paid sick leave from one to at least 11 employees instead of 10. His bill would make workers under age 15 and temporary and seasonal agricultural workers ineligible for the mandatory paid sick leave. It also would remove a section that allows workers to sue businesses if they violated the new paid sick leave law.
LB 258 and LB 698 both advanced from the Legislature’s Business and Labor Committee.
Raybould proposed changes in LB 258 that also would cap the annual minimum wage increase at a lesser rate of one and one-half percent instead of being linked to the Consumer Price Index to keep up with inflation, which was what voters approved. Another change would modify the 90-day training wage for new employees under 18 to $13.50 and to “75% of the minimum wage” in 2027. The youngest someone can work in Nebraska is 14 years old, with hour restrictions.
“LB 258 does not reflect the will of Nebraska citizens who voted overwhelmingly for stepped increases to minimum wage,” said Anahí Salazar, Policy Coordinator at Voices for Children in Nebraska.
Potential conflicts
Raybould, whose family owns grocery stores “throughout the state of Nebraska” wrote in her conflict of interest form filed with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission that “providing a youth and training wage would benefit our company with some savings. The cap on the increases in 2027 would also keep the projected minimum wage increase to a more reasonable and predictable one. This would also benefit our company.”
She explained in the form why she won’t abstain from voting on LB 258 despite the conflict of interest, because, “this legislation would impact more businesses besides our grocery stores, including, but not limited to, all retailers, restaurants, detasselers, day care facilities and other small and independent businesses in our state.”
Raybould has made LB 258 her priority bill this session.
Strommen described his sick leave measure during its hearing as an attempt to “clean up” initiative language and shield workers from “unintended consequences.” Some business owners and groups that testified for the bill referred to it as a “lifeline” and said costs could rise and be passed along to the consumer. Others said they welcomed the initiative’s original language.
State Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair also said the Legislature with LB 698 must determine a balance between what voters supporting the paid sick leave initiative want and what the state can provide. Student activist Sam Washburn said both bills disappointed him as a young person in the workforce, because they aim to “undermine protection for workers at small businesses” for young workers.
“I don’t understand how democratically elected senators can so easily go against these democratically supported initiatives,” said Washburn.