Effort to reinstate ability to sue for Nebraska paid sick leave violations stalls, for now

LINCOLN — An effort to reinstate a legal right for Nebraska workers to sue their employer if they do not receive voter-mandated paid sick leave stalled Tuesday, at least for now.

State Sen. Jana Hughes of Seward tried to attach her Legislative Bill 1089 to LB 847, both from the Business and Labor Committee, before running into opposition from State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln. The fight came, in part, over Hughes’ support last year of LB 415, which narrowed the paid sick leave framework approved by nearly 75% of voters in the 2024 election.

Hughes said that while the Nebraska Department of Labor can issue citations, workers have “no recourse, none, if you work for a company that decides to not follow through on what was passed in the ballot initiative in 2024.”

‘I don’t think that’s right’

Since Oct. 1, workers in businesses with 11-19 employees are guaranteed at least 40 hours of paid sick leave, while employees in larger businesses are guaranteed at least 50 hours of leave.

LB 415 removed the legal right of action passed by voters. An attempt to reinstate it up to one year of potential violations, rather than four years as voters mandated, passed last year, but some supporters of LB 415 reversed, citing opponents’ continued filibustering of the bill.

Hughes said it could be cheaper for a business acting in bad faith to pay a fine for not giving paid sick leave to a worker making minimum wage, at $15 per hour.

“I don’t think that’s right,” Hughes said.

‘Fix that mess’

Conrad blasted Hughes for asking the Legislature to “clean up the mess” of LB 415. It eliminated paid sick leave guarantees for independent contractors, agricultural employees, workers aged 14 or 15 and workers of businesses with 10 or fewer employees.

“In your haste to do so, you left behind a critical enforcement component, and now you’re asking the body to fix that mess,” Conrad said, criticizing Hughes’ amendment that would exclude more workers.

Hughes’ effort includes provisions from LB 1249, by State Sen. Tony Sorrentino of the Elkhorn area. If passed, paid sick leave would no longer be required for:

• Employees at private schools or universities (The ballot measure already excluded workers for state or local governments, including public schools.).
• Individuals with a 10% or more ownership interest in a company.
• Nonresidents who work for a nonresident employer in Nebraska for less than 90 days in a year.

Sorrentino’s provisions also would allow businesses to cap how many hours of paid sick leave could be carried over, up to one year’s worth of paid sick leave based on business size.

Hughes said she stood by her vote, which she said she based on conversations with her constituents. She pledged to try again at reinstating the legal remedy then, and if her bill doesn’t pass this year, she pledges to seek similar legislation next year.

“I truly believe that what we did last year cleaned it up and tightened the language and still put forward the intent of that sick leave package,” Hughes said.

Could sick leave bill return?

Hughes’ LB 1089 can still be scheduled for debate this legislative session, but lawmakers are running out of time for it to get through three rounds of debate in the final 10 days of the session.

In removing the right of action last year, State Sen. Dave Wordekemper of Fremont became the lone Republican to oppose the bill among his 32 fellow Republicans. One Democratic lawmaker, State Sen. Jane Raybould of Lincoln, supported LB 415, giving the proposal 33 votes, just enough to change a law passed by voters under the threshold set in the Nebraska Constitution.

Advocates behind the 2024 paid sick leave campaign are seeking to raise the threshold to change voter-approved laws to 40 legislative votes beginning next year in response. That would include future efforts around paid sick leave, including whether to reinstate the legal remedies.

Conrad said she was “inclined” to work with Hughes and others for a “clean proposal” to reinstate the legal cause of action. Conrad predicted a “wall of opposition” if that opportunity was paired with steps to carve out more workers.

But Hughes said she talked to her 48 colleagues, and all were a yes or “lean” yes, except for Conrad. Hughes said it was a “shame” to be fighting but ultimately withdrew her amendment.

Conrad, responding to Hughes, said the real “shame” was that the “cynical Legislature worked to carve up and cut up the will of the people” for a “modest but meaningful” paid sick leave framework. She criticized Hughes for being “complicit in pushing that hijacked, bad-faith effort forward.”

Said Conrad: “At the last minute, don’t come rushing in and point fingers after that actual history and act as if it’s wrong to oppose something that would offer a very small window of enforcement that you screwed up last year.”

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