Fourteen U.S. states began 2016 with higher minimum wages, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Indiana was not one of them.
That’s why a group of concerned citizens met at the Indiana Statehouse for a rally aimed at putting the state’s minimum wage on lawmakers’ agenda for the current legislative session.
One bill currently pending, authored by Democratic Sen. Karen Tallian, of Portage, Indiana, aims to raise the state’s minimum wage from the current rate of $7.25 per hour to $11.25 per hour.
Tallian’s suggested pay bump falls short of the $15-per-hour goal of the rally organizer Indiana Moral Mondays Coalition. The national movement, which officially kicked off in Indiana in September 2014, has been active in the minimum wage fight previously, helping to organize strikes of local fast food workers.
“We believe people who work should have an opportunity to adequately support themselves and their families — it is unconscionable and immoral for unemployment benefits and a living wage to be denied to local citizens,” Barbara Bolling Williams, president of the Indiana chapter of the NAACP, told the Recorder in 2014.
In addition to Tallian’s minimum wage proposal, several measures that could impact Indiana workers have been proposed this legislative session. Following are some of those proposals:
Senate Bill 85
Author: Sen. Jean Breaux
Summary: Fair pay in employment. Provides that: (1) it is an unlawful employment practice to pay wages that discriminate based on sex, race, or national origin for the same or equivalent jobs; and (2) the civil rights commission has jurisdiction for investigation and resolution of complaints of these employment actions.
Status: Referred to committee on Pensions and Labor
Senate Bill 210
Author: Sen. Karen Tallian
Summary: Family leave insurance program. Requires the department of insurance to establish, not later than Jan. 1, 2017, a family leave insurance program for the purpose of providing benefits to employees who elect to participate in the program.
Status: Referred to committee on Pensions and Labor
Senate Bill 212
Author: Sen. Karen Tallian
Summary: Employee work schedules. Requires an employer that owns or operates at least one retail sales establishment in Indiana and employs 15 or more employees to provide each newly hired employee with a good faith estimate in writing of: (1) the minimum number of scheduled shifts that the employee may expect per month; and (2) the hours and days that the shifts generally will be scheduled.
Status: Referred to committee on Pensions and Labor
Senate Bill 267
Author: Sen. Greg Taylor
Summary: Employers and expungement. Specifies that the prohibition against questioning a person applying for: (1) employment; (2) a license; or (3) another right or privilege; concerning an expunged arrest or conviction also applies during an interview.
Status: Referred to committee on Corrections and Criminal Law
Senate Bill 319
Author: Sen. Frank Mrvan
Summary: Local government common construction wage. Allows the legislative body of a political subdivision to adopt an ordinance requiring the political subdivision to establish a common construction wage for public work projects awarded by the political subdivision.
Status: Referred to committee on Rules and Legislative Procedure
Senate Bill 346
Author: Sen. Karen Tallian
Summary: Prevailing wage. Requires that, whenever the actual costs for the construction of a public improvement are at least $150,000, a contractor or subcontractor shall pay the workers employed in the performance of work for the construction of the public improvement a rate of wages that is not less than the prevailing wage determined by the commissioner of the department of labor.
Status: Referred to committee on Rules and Legislative Procedure
Senate Bill 369
Author: Sen. Frank Mrvan
Summary: Minimum wage for certain Indiana employees. After: (1) June 30, 2016, increases the minimum wage paid to certain employees in Indiana from $7.25 to $12.00; and (2) June 30, 2017, increases the minimum wage paid to certain employees in Indiana from $12.00 to $15.00; an hour. After June 30, 2018, and each successive June 30, increases the hourly minimum wage in the same percentage as any increase in the Consumer Price Index for the preceding calendar year.
Status: Referred to committee on Pensions and Labor
House Bill 1072
Author: Rep. Karlee Macer
Summary: Overtime compensation for certain employees. Provides that certain employees must be paid compensation for employment in certain circumstances at a rate not less than 1.5 times the regular rate at which the employee is employed and, under certain circumstances, not less than two times the regular rate at which the employee is employed.
Status: Referred to committee on Employment, Labor and Pensions
House Bill 1139
Author: Rep. Gregory Porter
Summary: Paid sick and safe leave. Provides that certain employers shall provide paid sick and safe leave to employees, accrued at the rate of one hour of paid sick and safe leave for every 30 hours of employment.
Status: Referred to committee on Employment, Labor and Pensions
House Bill 1265
Authors: Rep. John Bartlett, Rep. Charles Moseley
Summary: Indiana minimum wage. Provides that employers that are subject to the minimum wage provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act are subject to the Indiana minimum wage. (Current law provides that employers that are subject to the minimum wage provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act are not subject to the Indiana minimum wage.) Provides that the Indiana minimum wage is inapplicable to employees who provide companionship services to the aged and infirm.
Status: Referred to committee on Employment, Labor and Pensions
House Bill 1328
Author: Rep. Linda Lawson
Summary: Paid sick leave for certain employees. Provides that certain employers shall provide paid sick leave to employees of one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours of employment, up to a maximum of 40 hours of paid sick leave a year.
Status: Referred to committee on Employment, Labor and Pensions
House Bill 1368
Author: Rep. David Niezgodski
Summary: Repeal of IOSHA. Repeals, on January 1, 2017, the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Act (IOSHA), except for provisions concerning the INSafe program. Provides that the powers and duties of the department of labor under IOSHA (except for those concerning the INSafe program) are assumed by the United States Department of Labor.
Status: Referred to committee on Government and Regulatory Reform
For more information on these and other proposed bills or to contact your legislator, visit iga.in.gov.
