The DLOP proposed City Ordinance regulating The Day Labor Halls

As of 2006 8 States and many cities have some kind of day labor regulation.

Our proposed legislation was adopted from The City of Chicago and later the State of Illinois Bill. We drew from many sources including contacts at the National Employment Law Project and Brennan Center for Justice.

May 2006 DLOP formulated a Master Problem Statement and Ordinance Priorities Several members met with City Council members outlining our intentions and Council Member Bortz suggested he’d like to introduce the legislation to the entire council once the ordinance had been formally drafted.

Sept. 2006 Description : MOTION, submitted by Council member Bortz and Crowley and Cranley, that the administration draft an ordinance to license and regulate the day and temporary labor service agencies in the City of Cincinnati to the extent that state or federal law does not preempt specific requirements of the ordinance. Provisions to be addressed include, but are not limited to: Wages and Hour; Fees and Deductions; Agency Regulations; Transportation; Rights and Anti-Retaliation; Disclosure; Penalties for Violations; Licensing Fees. (STATEMENT ATTACHED)
Sponsors : ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
Status : ADOPT Final Disposition : ADOPTED
Motion - pdf

Nov. 2006 We received draft of the ordinance - Ordinance Draft - pdf

Dec 2007 Meetings and discussions over revisions -draft sent to City Solicitor's Office (Law Office)

May 2007 “Mayor’s Night In” Presentation - All indications are that the ordinance be adopted (see below) but we requested the mayor’s help in getting it put to a vote and passed - Presentation packet - pdf
"Merz, Rocky" <Rocky.Merz@cincinnati-oh.gov> wrote:
“Attached is the most recent version of the Day Laborer ordinance. The City Manager is recommending that we adopt this and then he will come back with a recommendation on how it will be enforced. I don't know how much we can change at this point but before we moved forward we wanted to run it by you guys. Let me know what you think and then we can start the legislative process in Council.”

May 2007 Discussions and meetings about who/how/cost of enforcement - we suggested private right of action. DLOP concerned with Council’s lighter summer schedule pushes hard to get a vote

June 2007 Email/phone tag Meeting 6-22-07 Problems with enforcement - Enforcement suggestions: Compliant Driven, Worker Center vets, agency creation (Mayor wants to know who it would help and direct correlation to social issues). DLOP knows it must come up with a solution that will not cost the city money and time.

Aug. 2007 DLOP begins circulating a plain language version of the ordinance to endorsers and supporters

Sept 20, 2007 Meeting with City representatives - unable to reach agreement on enforcement, suggest accreditation instead

Oct. 2007 Accreditation discussion begins:
The accreditation would include the basic provisions of the existing draft ordinance, plus a living wage provision. While the accreditation would be voluntary, the use of an "accredited" day labor hall would be required for any company with a city service contract.  The accreditation program would include the creation of the Day Labor Fairness Commission. The Commission would review candidates for accreditation and do outreach in the community, including third-party employers, and other governmental agencies – OSHA, Labor, State Wage & Hour. The Commission posts would be unpaid, but staff support from the City administration would be provided to the Commission: letter-head, telephone number, administrative support.  

March 2008 The accreditation plan is basically a "fair trade" stamp for day labor -
Bishop Tom Breidenthal wants to support the accreditation and all involved agree that accreditation would look good to business using our non-profit hiring hall

March 12, 2008 “As for an update, Crowley, Cranley & Bortz's office were supposed to meet with the solicitor's office this week to discuss the accreditation proposal and prepare it for the next (final?) steps. At this point, Crowley & Cranley's offices are really carrying the water and moving things forward without a lot of prompting from me. I hope that continues….” Brennan G.

April 2008- fax saying no accreditation from the city