The Minnesota House approved a bill [text, PDF] on Thursday to prevent cities from implementing their own labor laws. HF 600 would ultimately prohibit [press release] local governments from regulating minimum wage, paid and unpaid leave, advance notice of work schedules, benefits, or other working conditions. The legislation, approved by a vote of 76-53, would apply retroactively, effectively repealing the new paid sick leave ordinances that were passed past year. Opponents of the bill argue it will have a negative effect on the working class. The bill now moves on to to Minnesota Senate.

Minimum wage and employment issues continues to be a controversial issue in the US. The US has not seen an increase [Reuters report] in federal minimum wage since 2009. In the absence of a federal increase, many states have responded by raising their own minimum wages. Voters in Arizona, Colorado, Maine and Washington all approved minimum wage increase initiatives [JURIST report] in November, while South Dakota rejected a measure to lower the minimum wage. In January the Supreme Court of Missouri [official website] ruled [JURIST report] that the Kansas City Board of Commissioners [official website] must place a minimum wage proposal on the upcoming ballot. The same month the Kentucky legislature passed [JURIST report] the right-to-work legislation. In March the Missouri Supreme Court [official website] ruled [JURIST report] that St. Louis may raise its minimum wage next year. In January a federal judge refused [JURIST report] to force Wal-Mart to pay $80 million in back pay. The same month the US Department of Labor [official website] filed [JURIST report] a lawsuit against Oracle America, Inc. alleging it had a systemic practice of paying Caucasian male workers more than other works in the same job position.