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Judge pulls out of sick-leave lawsuit

By: dmc-admin//January 26, 2009//

Judge pulls out of sick-leave lawsuit

By: dmc-admin//January 26, 2009//

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Hopes for a court order preventing Milwaukee’s sick-leave law from taking effect Feb. 10 could be dashed after Judge John DiMotto recused himself from the case Tuesday.
That led to a cancellation of a Feb. 6 court hearing to consider the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce’s request to halt enforcement of the law.

Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Elsa Lamelas inherited the case Tuesday afternoon, but a substitution moved the case to Judge William Sosnay’s court. The hearing will be rescheduled.

Starting Feb. 10, companies will be required to log the number of hours employees work in Milwaukee. Within 90 days, employees will be able to use and be paid for the sick days they have accrued.

Employees would receive up to one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked in the city. Employees of companies with fewer than 10 workers would get up to five sick days, and those working for larger companies would accrue up to nine days.

DiMotto’s recusal request does not specify why he requested to be taken off the case. A clerk in his court said the judge will not, and cannot legally, comment on his request for recusal.

According to DiMotto’s request, “Based on current events and my own past personal experiences, I am presently unable to say with confidence that I can decide the case fairly and impartially, based only on the evidence and the law.”

Jeffrey Kremers, chief judge of Milwaukee County Circuit Court, said he cannot comment.

Kremers on Tuesday approved DiMotto’s request to leave the case.

Representatives from 9to5, National Association of Working Women, which proposed the sick-leave referendum, and those from MMAC said they were surprised by DiMotto’s request for recusal.

Sangita Nayak, 9to5’s lead organizer, said Tuesday afternoon her organization had not heard about the recusal and is waiting to find out the new hearing date.

Julie Granger, MMAC vice president of communications, said the association hopes its request for an injunction on the sick-leave law can be heard in a timely manner.

“The only comment we have at this point is, ‘We’re surprised,’” she said. “We did not know that Judge DiMotto had recused himself, and we do not know why he did so. We’re not sure, of course, what this means to the case.”

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