Wages
Maryland – Legislation is headed to the governor’s desk to accelerate by one year the adoption of a $15/hr minimum wage. Originally slated for Jan. 2025, the new wage will now take effect Jan. 1, 2024. The original legislation also included tying the wage to the Consumer Price Index (a priority of the governor) but that language was removed from the final bill. More details.
Ohio – The attorney general’s office accepted a petition to amend part of the Ohio Constitution which sets the state’s minimum wage. The Raise the Wage Ohio Amendment was sent to the attorney general’s office on Mar. 27. The original version was rejected in late 2022 because of summary omissions, and has been modified since. The next step is that the Ohio Ballot Board must determine if the proposal contains a single constitutional amendment or multiple. If the board certifies the proposal, the petitioners will need to collect signatures from voters equal to 10 percent of the vote cast in the most recent gubernatorial election. If the signatures are verified by the Ohio Secretary of State at least 65 days prior to the election, the proposed amendment will be placed on the next regular or general election. More details.
Labor Policy
Hawaii – The house advanced senate-passed pay transparency legislation requiring job listings to include an hourly rate or salary range. It further prohibits an employer from discriminating between employees because of any protected category for substantially similar work. The bill now heads back to the senate for additional approval because it was significantly amended in the house. More details.
Oklahoma – Senate-passed legislation to lower the allowable age for employees to serve cocktails advanced in a house committee. The current age for servers to handle mixed drinks is 21 but the legislation calls for lowering that to 18. More details.
Tennessee – Preemption legislation is on its way to the governor’s desk that would ensure that local governments cannot legislate in various aspects of labor and employment law including hours, employee output, benefits, and wages. More details.
Labor Activism
California – An additional senate hearing is scheduled next week on legislation requiring the Department of Public Health to make a list of all certified food handler training programs along with the cost of each program available on its website by Jan. 1, 2025. Local public health departments would be required to provide a link of this page on their website, or include the same list on their website. In addition, the bill would require an employer to pay the employee for any cost associated with the employee obtaining a food handler card. That includes but is not limited to the time it takes for the employee to complete the training, the cost of the food handler certification program, and the time it takes to complete the certification program. The bill further requires an employer to relieve an employee of all other work duties while the employee is taking the training course and examination. And, an employer would be prohibited from conditioning employment on an applicant or employee having an existing food handler card. The bill was originally filed in response to the New York Times piece regarding the National Restaurant Association and its ServSafe program. The bill now moves to an additional senate committee. More details.
Scheduling
Maine – Legislation mandating 2 weeks advance notice of shits, stiff penalties for schedule changes, and extensive record-keeping requirements received its first hearing in the house labor committee. More details.
Delivery
Indiana – House-passed legislation unanimously advanced out of the senate prohibiting a third-party food delivery service from providing any services related to facilitating, processing, or delivering an online order for a covered establishment unless the covered establishment expressly agrees to allow the third party food delivery service to provide those services. Because it was amended, it must return to the house for an additional vote. More details.
Sustainability
Maryland – A heavily amended Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) bill passed the house and is headed back to the senate for likely approval. The amended bill now calls for establishing an advisory council and requiring the Maryland Department of the Environment to hire an independent consultant to conduct a statewide recycling needs assessment. The assessment must cover details of the state’s current solid waste and recycling systems, including its infrastructure and capacity, as well as key costs and revenues. It must also determine disposal and recycling methods by material type and amount, as well as estimate how many materials are currently not being recycled. The original legislation had called for the establishment of a formal EPR program and it should be expected that similar legislation returns next year. More details.
Key Takeaways
- During Howard Shultz’s testimony before the U.S. Senate Help Committee and its Chairman Sen. Bernie Sanders, Mr. Shultz acknowledged that one of his biggest challenges at the outset of the union organizing campaign against his company was recognizing in a timely manner the role of “salting” in the effort. Salting refers to the practice of union organizers or trained members applying for a job with a non-union employer for the specific purpose of unionizing the employer’s workforce. Paid union salts are on the union payroll and remain so even if the target employer also hires them. Employers are not allowed to ask if a job candidate is affiliated with a union, but union salts may make their intentions known during the hiring process. Many unions, especially the SEIU, are adept at leveraging salts and industry brands, especially the large QSR companies, should assume some level of salting is currently underway.
- This week saw progressives notch meaningful wins in both the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the mayor’s race in Chicago. The results in Chicago may have an immediate impact on the industry as the new mayor-elect, Brandon Johnson, has already indicated his antipathy toward corporations and campaigned on a per employee head tax on large employers. Additionally, as the result of a party-switch, Republicans in the North Carolina house now enjoy a veto-proof majority similar to the existing one in the senate.
Podcast
Check out our Working Lunch podcast each week that includes further analysis into these legislative issues, policy, politics and much more. You can find Working Lunch on the Restaurant Business online website, SoundCloud, iTunes and Spotify.