Wages
New York – Legislation has been introduced to allow counter service restaurants to implement tip pooling for their hourly employees. The bill, A9008, would define a counter service restaurant as any food service business where customers order at a counter or kiosk, pay before receiving food, and receive limited, or no table service. If passed, the bill would allow tip pooling among customer-facing front-of-house staff and back-of-house staff like cooks or dishwashers. More details.
Minnesota – The state labor department announced the new minimum wage rate for 2026 will be $11.41/hr as of next Jan. 1. Additionally, the 90-day training wage for workers under the age of 20 will increase to $9.31/hr. Per state law, the wage is adjusted annually based on inflation and there is no tip credit. For context, both Minneapolis and St. Paul both have adopted a $15.97/hr wage rate. More details.
Portland, ME – The city council will vote next week on a proposal to put a $20/hr wage provision on the Nov. 2025 ballot. In 2022, Portland voters rejected a measure that would have raised the minimum wage to $18/hr by 2025 and eliminate the tip credit. More details.
Starbucks – The company announced it will offer an across-the-board 2 percent raise to its salaried workers replacing the previous system where managers decided whether and how much of a pay increase salaried workers would receive. Workers who will receive the 2 percent raise (for the current fiscal year ending in Sept. 2025) include corporate staffers, manufacturing and distribution employees, and store managers. This comes on top of other workforce changes this year including eliminating 1,100 existing corporate roles and several-hundred additional open and unfilled positions as well as offering 18 weeks of fully paid parental leave for birth parents, up from its previous benefit of six weeks. More details.
Paid Leave
Missouri – As of August 28, paid sick leave will no longer be required in the state. In July, the governor signed HB 567, officially repealing Missouri’s voter-enacted paid sick leave law. Under Missouri’s short-lived paid sick leave law, beginning May 1, 2025, employers were required to provide employees with one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked and to allow employees to use accrued leave for qualifying reasons. Those obligations will end when the repeal is effective next week. Employers who modified prior paid leave policies or created new paid leave policies due to the passage of the paid sick leave law can consider whether they want to continue providing paid sick leave benefits, revert back to their prior policy, or something in between. More details.
Labor Policy
NLRB – A U.S. appeals court agreed with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and two other companies that the structure of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is likely unlawful and blocked the agency from pursuing cases against them. The ruling by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is the first by an appeals court to find that a law shielding NLRB administrative judges and the board’s five members from being removed at will by the president is likely illegal. “The Employers have made their case and should not have to choose between compliance and constitutionality,” Judge Don Willett, a Trump appointee, wrote for the court. “When an agency’s structure violates the separation of powers, the harm is immediate – and the remedy must be, too.” The decision seems to guarantee that companies in the Fifth Circuit – which covers Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi – can get district courts to block unfair labor practice cases by filing constitutional lawsuits against the agency. A U.S. Supreme Court challenge is highly likely. More details.
Labor Activism
Los Angeles, CA – The business community has begun the process of placing an additional measure before the voters – this one to repeal the city’s business tax. This is in addition to an already pending measure to repeal the city’s newly passed $30/hr minimum wage for workers in the hospitality sector. The tax – basically a gross receipts tax – brought in about $700 million in revenue to the city last year. This is the latest marker in the business community’s revolt in the city over the perceived overreach of the city council in appeasing labor community interests as they have successfully leveraged the 2028 Summer Olympics to advance their agenda. The business community is now fighting back using the same playbook and threatening revenue streams vital for Olympics-related infrastructure development. More details.
Key Takeaway
- Once again, an iconic restaurant brand has been pulled into the culture wars. This week, Cracker Barrel updated its familiar logo and almost immediately, some in the far-right conservative echo-chamber have framed it as yet another step in the company’s perceived pivot away from their traditional corporate values. This comes on the heels of America First Legal’s formal request in July that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti investigate Cracker Barrel for potential violations of federal and state civil rights laws stemming from its “discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies.” While this is the fifth logo refresh in the company’s history, it’s the first in the current era of hyper-politicalization and instant outrage. It is a cautionary tale for brands to remember that internal business decisions – no matter how innocuous – traditionally made through the lens of their impact on customers, employees and shareholders, are now fully evaluated externally by the political class as potential fodder for unrelated agendas. Brands need to incorporate this reality into their deliberations.