This wage and hour Law Firm Publication by Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. addresses a $72 billion budget bill signed by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. The bill eliminates the requirement that employers obtain permission from the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development to ask factory and mercantile workers to forgo a weekly state-mandated day of rest. Wisconsin, one of thirteen states to mandate this rest period, previously required a union and employer seeking a waiver to jointly request permission from the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. Unrepresented workers had no process for waiving their day of rest. The new bill allows employers to ask employees if they are willing to work on their rest day and requires that willing employees state in writing that they have voluntarily opted to do so. The bill also repeals Wisconsin's prevailing wage requirements for certain projects and allows for federally-set wage rates to be used for remaining public works contracts covered by the state's prevailing wage statute.