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Suburbs look to opt out of Cook County sick time, minimum wage laws

Cook County’s looming minimum wage hike and paid sick time law have sparked the perpetual debates about whether such mandates help workers or hamstring employers and threaten jobs.

Now at least one community is doing more than debating — it has opted out. And other suburbs could follow suit.

In October, the Cook County Board passed two laws to mirror measures in Chicago: One allows employees, with a few exceptions, to accrue up to five days of paid sick time each year; the other increases the minimum wage, in increments, to $13 an hour by 2020.

Supporters said workers should be able to make a living wage and shouldn’t have to choose between earning a day’s pay and taking care of themselves or a family member, yet about 40 percent of private sector workers do not currently have paid sick time benefits.

But particularly in suburbs that border collar counties, some local officials are worried the mandates will put undue strain on employers or could dissuade new businesses from setting up shop. Some critics argue such workplace policies should be left up to business owners.

The new laws take effect July 1, but any municipality can opt out at any time, regardless of whether they have home-rule authority, according to county and local officials.

“As a border community, it hurts our businesses,” said Jim Schwantz, mayor of Palatine, which borders Lake County. “I think it’s an overreach by the (Cook County Board).”

After inquiries from elected officials and the business community, the Palatine Village Council is expected to take up the question early next year of opting out of one or both of the pay measures, Village Manager Reid Ottesen said.

“Our concern is trying to do something at the local level. All (the ordinances are) doing is unbalancing the playing field,” Ottesen said. “You’re going to have businesses … go (across the county line) to Lake Zurich. Why go to Palatine?”

He added that the issue “needs to be addressed at a statewide level, not a county level.”

That lack of uniformity is why Barrington officials just last month opted out of the new laws — apparently the first community to do so.

Village President Karen Darch said officials were concerned because the village straddles the Cook-Lake county line, which runs right through the community’s downtown business district.

“We acted immediately,” she said. “We want a level playing field. We would have had one side of the street playing by one set of rules, and the other side playing by another. We don’t want to have two sets of rules for businesses in our community.”

Elgin Mayor David Kaptain said he plans to bring up the issue to the City Council at some point before the new laws take effect. About a third of Elgin is in Cook County; the rest is in Kane.

Kaptain said he shares the concerns of other border towns about the effect of more than one set of rules for businesses.

Northwestern University law professor Nadav Shoked, who specializes in local government laws, said county regulations typically only govern unincorporated areas, so it’s not surprising that municipalities are already looking at opting out of the new Cook County laws.

Generally speaking, he said, a municipal ordinance trumps a county law when it comes to issues like minimum wage.

And, Shoked added: “These things tend to have a domino effect. If one (town) opts out, the one next door does.”

Cook County Commissioner Timothy Schneider, a Republican from Bartlett, voted against the sick pay and minimum wage increase laws after hearing from businesses in his northwest suburban district, which includes part of Barrington. He said he’s heard from officials in other suburbs he represents and believes most will follow Barrington’s lead and opt out.

Other suburban Republican commissioners who voted against the measure say most of the municipalities they represent want to opt out but fear political payback.

“I would say that a majority would prefer to opt out, but there’s a genuine fear among community leaders of retribution from the county,” said Commissioner Gregg Goslin of Glenview, whose district includes parts of the northern and northwest suburbs near the county border. Gosling said if local leaders reject the pay initiatives, the county might reduce funding of county roads that run through their towns.

“Whether that’s real or perceived is another story,” he said.

Commissioner Sean Morrison of Palos Park represents a district that runs from Des Plaines in the north all the way south to Orland Park. He said most of the officials in the suburbs he represents have expressed an interest in opting out, but he won’t name them, and added they, too, fear the loss of funds for local roads.

Still, Morrison said, “I have a suspicion that a great many of (the suburbs) will (opt out). In late winter, early spring, you might see villages doing it.”

Morrison points out the concern in his district stems from the effect of several county initiatives, like tax increases, have had on business near the border.

“It’s noticeable in the last eight to 10 years. It’s starting to become retail deserts along the border,” he said. “This patchwork creates an unfair business advantage. It’s terrible policy.”

Suzanne Corr, president of the Barrington Area Chamber of Commerce, said her members wrote letters to county and village board members in opposition to the new laws, expressing that same concern about a patchwork of laws. Because Barrington sits in two counties, her local business community was troubled about having two different sets of rules for employers, she said.

“It would put our community and our businesses at a complete disadvantage,” she said. “You become acutely aware of how decisions like that are going to affect your community when you have a dividing line down the middle.”

Corr also said county laws designed to mirror standards in Chicago may not work in outlying suburban areas.

“It appears Cook County follows the Chicago lead,” she said. “There’s just different dynamics going on in suburban communities. Particularly in our community, we can see the differences, and we have to respond to the differences to create level playing field.”

Doug McAllister, owner of Douglas Automotive on the Cook County side of Barrington, said he’s glad the village took such swift action opting out. He also has locations in Crystal Lake and Fox River Grove, outside of Cook County.

“It would’ve been a challenge for me to have different pay scales for the same job,” he said, adding that “the whole premise … just annoys me because I take good care of my people. (The County Board) needs to do what government is supposed to do and let businesses do what they’re supposed to do.”

McAllister said he doesn’t need a sick day mandate to offer his employees attractive benefits and the opportunity to stay home if they need to for themselves or their family.

The cost of the minimum wage increase on McAllister’s business also could’ve forced him to cease a part-time program he has for young employees.

“What they were asking for, that would’ve been a problem and might’ve limited my ability to mentor young guys who are looking to get into this business,” he said.

But Adam Kader, worker center director with Arise Chicago, an organization that supports workers’ rights, said suburbs that opt out are doing a disservice to those who work in their communities. The group plans to speak out to elected officials, as it did at a recent Palatine Village Council meeting, to urge them to keep the county’s sick time law in place.

“We feel strongly that this is a well-rounded policy,” Kader said, pointing out similar laws in New York City, Los Angeles and other major cities. “You have to choose between making a day’s wage and taking care of … your health? That’s an unfair choice, an unnecessary choice. There’s a growing recognition that this is unacceptable. It’s a basic protection all workers should have.”

At the federal level, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for labor secretary, fast-food executive Andy Puzder, has reportedly been critical of a push for a $15-an-hour minimum wage and other mandated worker protections.

kthayer@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @knthayer