Fair Employment Law

• Section 111.31 of the Wisconsin Statutes mandates that employment opportunities within the state are accessible to all qualified applicants. Employers are advised to structure their pre-employment inquiries and advancement opportunity assessments in a non-discriminatory manner. Age, creed, arrest record, marital status, race and honesty testing are a few of the factors that employers are required to avoid when making hiring and advancement decisions regarding properly qualified applicants. Restricting or limiting a qualified applicant's access to an employment opportunity may result in a fair employment complaint investigation.
  
  

Family Medical Leave Act

• The Wisconsin Family Medical Leave Act covers employers with 50 or more employees. The act entitles eligible employees to take up to six weeks of family leave for the adoption or birth of a child. Employees that need time off to care for a qualified family member are entitled to up to two weeks of leave in a 12-month period. An employee who is suffering from a serious health condition that prevents him from performing his normal work duties has up to two weeks of leave within a 12-month period. Employers covered by federal FMLA guidelines must take into consideration that the federal regulations may entitle the employee to a greater amount of leave time.
  
  

Employment of Minors

• Chapter DWD 270 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code deals with child labor regulations. Wisconsin workers who are less than 18 years of age are considered minors, and working minors are under the protection of Wisconsin's child labor laws. Non-agricultural and non-domestic employers are required to adhere to work permit requirements, age restrictions, job restrictions and work hour restrictions. It is the employer's responsibility to ensure that a minor's work schedule and job duties do not violate Wisconsin's child labor laws.
  
  

Minimum Wage

• Wisconsin's minimum wage provisions are defined under Chapter DWD 272 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code. As of July 24, 2009, the standard minimum wage rate in Wisconsin was $7.25 per hour, and the minimum wage rate for tipped employees was $2.33. Wisconsin allows employers of training opportunity workers to pay a lower rate during the employee's first 90 days of employment. Opportunity employees must be less than 20 years of age. The minimum wage rate for a non-tipped opportunity employee is $5.90 per hour, and the minimum wage rate for a tipped opportunity employee is $2.13 per hour.
  
  

Reduction in Force

• Section 109.07 of the Wisconsin Statutes requires businesses with 50 or more employees to issue a written notification following any decisions to close a work site or implement a mass layoff of a significant number of workers. The written notification has to occur no later than 60 days prior to the event. A significant number is defined as the greater of 25 employees, 25 percent of the workforce or 500 employees. The business must send the written notification to any affected employee, the Dislocated Workers Unit of the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development and the highest official in the jurisdiction where the business or plant is located. The business must also notify any existing collective bargaining units.