Wages

Colorado – A house committee advanced heavily-amended legislation that would allow cities and counties that increase their local minimum wages to increase their tip credits above the fixed $3.02/hr set in current state law. Local governments could still raise the minimum wage for non-tipped employees as high as it wishes, while maintaining a tipped minimum wage of $11.79/hr, the statewide minimum. The original bill mandated that every municipality in the state with a minimum wage greater than the state rate offset the difference with a tip credit. The changes came about as opponents waged a vigorous effort to delay the bill and prospects for final passage still remain unclear. More details. 

Florida – Legislation advanced out of a senate committee that would allow employers to pay apprentices, interns and certain others less than minimum wage. If passed, the bill would allow employees to check a box when applying for a job allowing them to be paid less than Florida’s current $13/hr. An amendment to the bill requires the parent or guardian of a worker under age 18 to approve the sub-minimum wage pay. Companion legislation is pending in the house. More details.

Georgia – Legislation is on its way to the governor that would end sub-minimum wages for workers who have intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. Eight organizations in the state hold federal waivers to pay workers less than the minimum wage but that will end as of July 1, 2027. The legislation had been defeated eight previous years in a row. More details.

Illinois – In advance of a looming deadline, the House Executive Committee advanced legislation to eliminate the tip credit by 2028 and provide a tax incentive for those employers who choose to abandon using it sooner. While this move was a surprise, the bill’s prospects for final passage still appear to be very uphill as the house speaker has committed to holding the legislation. More details.

Michigan – As a result of the recently-passed minimum wage legislation, the state Labor and Economic Opportunity Department (LEO) issued guidance to clarify language with regard to tip pooling. The new law includes language that allows servers to voluntarily opt out of tip pooling arrangements in the workplace. Per the guidance given by the department, employees covered by the tipped minimum wage may share the employee’s gratuities with another employee voluntarily.  This does not prohibit tip sharing or tip pooling agreements, however, the employee entering must be informed that this is voluntary on the part of the employee and refusing to share tips does not impact the opportunity for employment or continued employment.  Further, the employee must be provided the ability to cancel the agreement without fear of reprisal. The provision allowing the opt-out was opposed by the industry and was not expected to be part of the final law. The Michigan Restaurant & Lodging Act is analyzing their legal options to push back on this provision. More details.

Olympia, WA – The city council has directed city staff to begin a research project to determine the efficacy of increasing the local minimum wage (currently $16.66/hr) and adopting a Workers Bill of Rights. The Workers Bill of Rights basically refers to a set of potential updates to Olympia’s regulations that have to do with minimum wage, workplace health and safety, and predictive scheduling for largely low-wage workers in the community. The council is hoping for the research to be concluded by mid-year. More details.

Portland, ME – A hearing was held in a city council committee on a proposal to increase the minimum wage to $20/hr by 2028, up from its current $15.50/hr. No votes were taken and there will be additional hearings before the council takes any action which will likely include putting the measure before the voters – again. At the behest of labor activists, the city has routinely debated substantial hikes over the last few years including previous ballot measures that failed. More details.

Paid Leave

Missouri – The house advanced legislation eliminating the paid leave law passed by the voters in November. The vote came quickly after the state supreme court heard oral arguments asking the courts to nullify the voter-approved, new minimum wage and paid leave mandate in the state. The lawsuit, filed by the state chamber of commerce and other business groups including the Missouri Restaurant Association, argue the election results in support of the recent ballot measure to increase the minimum wage must be set aside because its fiscal note summary is “insufficient and unfair.” The bill now moves to the senate. More details.

Labor Policy

EEOC – The U.S. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued letters inquiring into the diversity, equity and inclusion practices of 20 large law firms. In the letters, Lucas requested details from the firms such as application and selection criteria for diverse clerkship programs, hiring and compensation policies and the use of affinity groups, among other items. Lucas gave each firm a deadline of April 15, 2025, by which to submit responses. The announcement includes an email address to which whistleblowers may submit additional information about the firms’ DEI practices. The firms can be found here.

EEOC – The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Department of Justice put employers on notice that the federal government’s approach to diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace is changing. Both the EEOC and DOJ released documents to educate people about what the agencies called “unlawful discrimination” related to diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace.  Earlier this year, the Attorney General gave the DOJ until March 1 “to submit a report to the associate attorney general containing recommendations for enforcing federal civil rights laws and taking other appropriate measures to encourage the private sector to end illegal discrimination and preferences.” This week, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche affirmed in a statement that the DOJ is “committed to ending illegal DEI initiatives, policies and programs.” According to EEOC and DOJ, employers’ DEI policies, programs and practices can violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on protected characteristics such as race and sex. More details.

Washington – A house hearing was held on senate-passed legislation that would extend unemployment insurance (UI) benefits to workers during a labor strike. If enacted, Washington would become the third state – after New York and New Jersey – to grant this benefit. Striking workers that have logged at least 680 hours in the past year would become eligible for UI benefits starting the second Sunday after their legal strike begins, following a required one-week waiting period. As written, claimants would receive an average weekly benefit of $757 in fiscal year 2026, for up to four weeks, with payments determined by their employer’s experience rate. The bill also removes disqualifications for workers affected by employer-initiated lockouts in multi-employer bargaining disputes. More details.

Labor Activism

One Fair Wage – The activist group staged rallies at the state capitol buildings in both Springfield, IL and Albany, NY to draw attention to pending legislation in both states to eliminate the tip credit. In Albany, the event was characterized as commemorating the 5th anniversary of the pandemic shutdown and honoring service workers who lost their lives from COVID -19. The event quickly turned to a tip credit elimination event and a call for passage of the legislation. More details.

Ben & Jerry’s – The company filed suit against its parent company Unilever accusing them of firing the ice cream maker’s chief executive for defending the brand’s social-activism efforts. The company said in a court filing that Unilever has breached the terms of their merger agreement by removing David Stever as CEO of Ben & Jerry’s without approval from its independent board. Unilever ousted Stever because of his commitment to the brand’s social mission and willingness to work with its independent board, not because of any genuine concerns about his job performance, Ben & Jerry’s said in the filing. The latest filing marks an escalation in the legal battle between Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever after the brand sued the consumer-goods giant last fall for allegedly silencing its attempts to speak out in support of Palestinians. More details.

Misc.

FDA – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced its intention to extend the compliance date for the Food Traceability Rule by 30 months. The deadline was initially set for Jan. 20, 2026 but will now be extended until July of 2028. The final rule is a key component of FDA’s New Era of Smarter Food Safety Blueprint and implements Section 204(d) of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The compliance date extension does not amend the requirements of the final rule but the extension affords covered entities the additional time necessary to ensure complete coordination across the supply chain in order to fully implement the final rule’s requirements. The final rule establishes additional traceability recordkeeping requirements (beyond what is already required in existing regulations) for persons who manufacture, process, pack or hold foods on the Food Traceability List. More details.

Starbucks – Last week, a California state court jury found Starbucks liable for severe burns a Postmates driver suffered while picking up a drive-through order. The plaintiff, represented by Trial Lawyers for Justice, argued that the barista working the window failed to properly secure one of the hot drinks in the takeout container causing injury to the driver. The jury assigned him no liability in the first phase of the bifurcated trial after 40 minutes of deliberation. This week, a jury awarded the man $50 million. More details.

Key Takeaway

• We have been chronicling for some time how statehouse Republicans across the country have been slowly coopting the paid leave issue from Democrats and in many red states are enacting paid family and medical leave programs that either partially or fully involve the private sector insurance market. The same phenomenon is unfolding on the issue of portable benefits – workplace benefits (such as healthcare, retirement, paid family leave, disability, etc.) that are attached to an individual rather than an employer. Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, and Virginia all have pending legislation to advance portable benefits plans in their states. Additionally, gig platforms, most notably DoorDash, have been instrumental in developing pilot projects with the governors of Pennsylvania and Georgia. The adoption of a portable benefits system could go a long way toward inoculating our industry from the reputational attacks on our business model with regard to paid leave and other benefit offerings. The entry-level employment community has a tremendous political opening to meaningfully engage in this conversation and should take advantage of it.