SB359: Bill Text

LRB-3824/1

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2001 - 2002 LEGISLATURE

2001 Senate BILL 359

December 27, 2001 - Introduced by Senators Chvala, Hansen, Plache and Risser, cosponsored by Representatives Johnsrud, Miller, Young, Musser, Reynolds, Berceau, Pocan, J. Lehman, Ryba, Lassa, Bock and Morris-Tatum. Referred to Committee on Labor and Agriculture.

SB359,1,7 An Act to repeal 103.01 (title), 103.68 (3) and 103.935 (2) and (3); to renumber 103.01 (1), 103.01 (2), 103.01 (3), 103.935 (1) (intro.), 103.935 (1) (a) and 103.935 (1) (b); to renumber and amend 103.01 (intro.), 103.02, 103.03 and 103.935 (1) (c); to amend 103.025 (2), 103.66 (2), 103.74 (2), 103.82 (1) (b), 109.09 (1), 111.322 (2m) (a) and 111.322 (2m) (b); and to create 103.02 (4), 103.021, 103.024 (3), 103.685 and 103.937 of the statutes; relating to: rest and meal periods for employees and providing a penalty.

Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau

Under current law, employees engaged in certain types of employment (generally at factories or mercantile establishments) may not work or be permitted to work for periods that are dangerous to their health. Current law also specifically requires that an employee under the age of 18 receive a meal break if the employee works for six or more consecutive hours. Further, a migrant worker may not be required to work for more than six consecutive hours without a meal break under current law, unless the work will be completed in less than seven hours. Migrant workers who are not engaged exclusively in agricultural labor are also entitled to a paid ten-minute rest period for each five hours of employment.

This bill requires all employers, including the state, to provide their employees, including migrant workers and minors, with a paid rest period of not less than 15 minutes for each four hours worked in an eight-hour period and an unpaid meal period of not less than 30 minutes for six or more consecutive hours of work, unless any of the following applies:

1. The employee is covered by a collective bargaining agreement that addresses the issues of rest periods and meal periods.

2. The employee, with the permission of his or her employer, works a shorter workday in lieu of taking a rest period or a meal period required under the bill.

3. The employee provides health care services, maintenance services, or personal care services for an ambulance service provider or a health care facility and is involved in an emergency situation.

4. The department of workforce development grants the employer a waiver of the rest period and meal period requirement based on a determination that providing a classification of employees a rest period or a meal period as required by the bill would cause a demonstrable decrease in the efficiency of employer's operations.

For further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be printed as an appendix to this bill.

The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:

SB359, s. 1 Section 1. 103.01 (title) of the statutes is repealed.

SB359, s. 2 Section 2. 103.01 (intro.) of the statutes is renumbered 103.02 (1) (intro.) and amended to read:

SB359,2,4 103.02 (1) (intro.) In ss. 103.01 to 103.03 this section:

SB359, s. 3 Section 3. 103.01 (1) of the statutes is renumbered 103.02 (1) (a).

SB359, s. 4 Section 4. 103.01 (2) of the statutes is renumbered 103.02 (1) (b).

SB359, s. 5 Section 5. 103.01 (3) of the statutes is renumbered 103.02 (1) (c).

SB359, s. 6 Section 6. 103.02 of the statutes is renumbered 103.02 (2) and amended to read:

SB359,2,12 103.02 (2) No person may be employed or be permitted to work in any place of employment or at any employment for such period of time during any day, night, or week, as is dangerous or prejudicial to the person's life, health, safety, or welfare. The

SB359,3,12 (3) Subject to s. 103.021, the department shall investigate, ascertain, determine, and fix such reasonable classification, and promulgate rules fixing a period of time, or hours of beginning and ending work during any day, night, or week, which shall be necessary to protect the life, health, safety, or welfare of any person, or to carry out the purposes of ss. 103.01 to 103.03 this section. The department shall, by rule, classify such periods of time into periods to be paid for at regular rates and periods to be paid for at the rate of at least one and one-half 1.5 times the regular rates. Such investigations, classifications, and orders shall be made as provided in s. 103.005 and the penalties under s. 103.005 (12) shall apply to and be imposed for any violation of ss. 103.01 to 103.03. Such orders shall be subject to review in the manner provided in ch. 227. Section 111.322 (2m) applies to discharge or other discriminatory acts arising in connection with any proceeding under this section.

SB359, s. 7 Section 7. 103.02 (4) of the statutes is created to read:

SB359,3,16 103.02 (4) The employment of any person in any employment or place of employment at any time other than the permissible hours of labor under this section is prima facie evidence of a violation of this section.

SB359, s. 8 Section 8. 103.021 of the statutes is created to read:

SB359,3,18 103.021 Rest and meal periods. (1) In this section:

SB359,3,23 (a) "Employer" means a person engaging in any activity, enterprise, or business in this state employing at least one individual. "Employer" includes the state and any office, department, independent agency, authority, institution, association, society, or other body in state or local government created or authorized to be created by the constitution or any law, including the legislature and the courts.

SB359,4,8 (b) "Health care facility" means a facility, as defined in s. 647.01 (4), or any hospital, nursing home, community-based residential facility, county home, county infirmary, county hospital, county mental health complex, assisted living facility, residential care apartment complex, rural medical center, hospice, treatment facility, or other place licensed, certified, or approved by the department of health and family services under s. 49.70, 49.71, 49.72, 50.02, 50.03, 50.034, 50.35, 50.52, 50.90, 51.04, 51.08, or 51.09, an adult family home licensed or certified by the department of health and family services or a county department of human services or social services under s. 50.032 or 50.033, or a facility under s. 45.365, 51.05, 51.06, or 252.10 or under ch. 233.

SB359,4,10 (2) Except as provided in sub. (5), an employer shall provide its employees with all of the following:

SB359,4,12 (a) A rest period of not less than 15 minutes for each 4 hours of work, not including meal periods under par. (b), within an 8-hour period.

SB359,4,14 (b) A meal period of not less than 30 minutes, in addition to any rest period under par. (a), for each 6 or more consecutive hours of work, including rest periods.

SB359,4,17 (3) An employer shall provide compensation to an employee who is on a rest period under sub. (2) (a) at the applicable rate of pay for the employee when the rest period occurs.

SB359,4,20 (4) The department shall determine whether the rest periods and meal periods required under sub. (2) are counted as hours worked for purposes of ss. 66.0903, 103.49, and 103.50.

SB359,4,21 (5) Subsections (2) and (3) do not apply to any of the following:

SB359,4,23 (a) An employee who is covered under a collective bargaining agreement that addresses the issues of rest periods and meal periods.

SB359,4,25 (b) A minor employee whose rest periods or meal periods are regulated under s. 103.685.

SB359,5,2 (c) A migrant worker whose rest periods or meal periods are regulated under s. 103.937.

SB359,5,6 (d) An employee who, upon request of the employee or the collective bargaining representative of the employee, is permitted by his or her employer to work a shorter workday in lieu of taking a rest period required under sub. (2) (a) or a meal period required under sub. (2) (b).

SB359,5,8 (e) An employee who is in a job classification for which the department has granted a waiver under sub. (6).

SB359,5,15 (f) In cases of emergency, an employee of an ambulance service provider, as defined in s. 146.50 (1) (c), or a health care facility who provides health care, as defined in s. 155.01 (3), services, maintenance services, as defined in s. 647.01 (5), or personal care services, as defined in s. 647.01 (8). In this paragraph, "emergency" means a sudden and unexpected situation that could not reasonably have been anticipated or prevented in which a person is in imminent danger of death or serious physical or mental injury unless immediate action is taken.

SB359,5,21 (6) The department may grant an employer a waiver exempting employees in a job classification from the requirements under subs. (2) and (3) if the department determines that providing a rest period or a meal period to employees in that classification would cause a demonstrable decrease in the efficiency of the employer's operations. The determination of the department shall be subject to review in the manner provided in ch. 227.

SB359, s. 9 Section 9. 103.024 (3) of the statutes is created to read:

SB359,5,24 103.024 (3) Section 111.322 (2m) applies to discharge or other discriminatory acts arising in connection with any proceedings under s. 103.02 or 103.021.

SB359, s. 10 Section 10. 103.025 (2) of the statutes is amended to read:

SB359,6,3 103.025 (2) An employer described in s. 103.01 (1) (b) 103.02 (1) (a) 2. may provide an employee, in lieu of overtime compensation, compensatory time off as permitted under 29 USC 207 (o), as amended to April 15, 1986.

SB359, s. 11 Section 11. 103.03 of the statutes is renumbered 103.024 (1) and amended to read:

SB359,6,9 103.024 (1) The employment of any person in any employment or place of employment at any time other than the permissible hours of labor shall be prima facie evidence of a violation of this section. An employer that violates s. 103.02 or 103.021 is subject to the penalties imposed under s. 103.005 (12).

SB359,6,13 (2) Every day for each person employed, and every week for each person employed, during which any employer fails to observe or to comply with any order of the department, or to perform any duty enjoined by ss. 103.01 to 103.03 required under s. 103.02 or 103.021, shall constitute a separate offense.