Wages
California – The Fast Food Council adopted a proposal to discuss a cost of living increase at a future meeting. The state law governing the council empowers the council to increase wages every year by either 3.5 percent or the increase in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is smaller. The proposed 70 cent bump is exactly a 3.5 percent increase in the existing $20/hr wage. Due to some parliamentary maneuvering orchestrated by industry allies, the discussion at the next meeting (likely in either April or May) will be informational-only and no votes will be taken. Votes could, however, come at the next meeting after that, most likely mid-summer. More details.
Michigan – One Fair Wage announced plans to begin collecting signatures to repeal the recently enacted minimum wade and tip credit law. If passed, their proposal would increase but preserve the server wage for tipped workers and accelerate the state’s minimum wage hike to $15/hr. If the required 220,000 signatures are collected, the new law would be paused from effect until voters decide in the Nov. 2026 election whether to repeal it. The group said it’s aiming to collect about 330,000 total signatures with the hopes of submitting them and getting them certified this summer. More details.
Washington – Companion legislation in both the house and senate to raise the state minimum wage and mandate paid vacation leave failed to advance from their respective labor committees by last week’s policy deadline. The minimum wage legislation sought to raise the rate to $25/hr by 2031. The paid leave requirement would have mandated that employers provide a minimum of three weeks paid vacation plus five days paid bereavement leave. The legislation will likely reappear next Jan. when the 2026 session convenes. More details.
Burien, WA – The city has filed suit in a King County court to overturn a recently-passed voter referendum to increase the minimum wage. Late last year, the city had approved a new ordinance mandating businesses with 20 or fewer employees pay $16.66/hr to employees (the same as the state minimum wage rate). In July, businesses with 21 to 499 employees pay $20.16/hr and businesses with 500 or more employees pay $21.16/hr. The labor community protested the exemptions for smaller businesses and put a provision on the ballot essentially altering and eventually removing all those provisions and setting a blanket wage of $21.10/hr for all businesses by 2031. That measure easily passed and under the new terms, the measure removes the carve-out for tips and benefits and changes how businesses are classified. It is set to take effect next month and call for “small” businesses with fewer than 15 employees to pay $18.10/hr; “medium” businesses with 15-499 employees total (not just in King County) to pay $19.10/hr and businesses with 500 employees or more to pay the full $21.10/hr. The measure also created a three-year phase-in period for medium businesses and a six-year phase-in for small businesses. The city’s lawsuit argues that Initiative 1 failed to repeal or acknowledge Burien’s existing minimum wage ordinance, which went into effect Jan. 1, 2025. As a result, Burien businesses may now be subject to two conflicting wage structures, leading to uncertainty for employers and workers alike. The city has requested a declaratory judgment, asking the court to determine which wage law applies before Initiative 1 is set to take effect. The lawsuit also raises concerns about the constitutional validity of the initiative, arguing that it was vague, misleading to voters, and exceeded local initiative powers. More details.
San Diego, CA – The city approved moving forward and drafting an ordinance that would raise the minimum wage to $25/hr for hotel, event center, and janitorial workers in the tourism sector. An initial draft could be unveiled as early as June. Last year, Los Angeles passed a minimum wage hike for tourism workers to $30/hr by 2028, and voters in Long Beach raised hotel workers to a $29.50/hr minimum wage by 2030. More details.
Labor Policy
Labor Department – The U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee voted 14-9 to advance the nomination of Labor Secretary nominee Lori Chavez-DeRemer to the U.S. Senate floor. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was the sole Republican to oppose the nomination. Three Democrats, Sens. Tim Kaine of Virginia, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and John Hickenlooper of Colorado, voted in the nominee’s favor. The nomination will now head to the senate floor, where Chavez-DeRemer is almost certain to be confirmed despite the prospect of additional “no” votes from Republicans concerned about her labor background. More details.
New Mexico – An additional house committee has advanced captive audience legislation prohibiting an employer from threatening or taking retaliatory action against an employee for refusing to attend an employer-sponsored meeting regarding political or religious matters. More details.
Door Dash – New York Attorney General Leticia James announced a $16.75 million settlement with the company over claims that it unfairly used customer tips to subsidize the wages of its delivery workers in the state rather than letting drivers keep the tips on top of their guaranteed pay. Based on the model the company used between May 2017 and Sept. 2019, the company would guarantee workers a base payment for each delivery but was factoring tips into that equation, only paying workers for whatever the tips didn’t cover, according to the attorney general. DoorDash also did not make it clear to customers that their tips were being used to offset worker wages. The money will be distributed to workers who made deliveries during that time period in New York. Eligible workers will be contacted by a settlement administrator. More details.
Labor Activism
24-Hour Economic Blackout – A consumer-activist group has launched a grassroots campaign to halt spending – both online or in-store – and to avoid using credit or debit cards for 24 hours on Friday, Feb. 28, in an attempt to “disrupt the economic order” and “take back control of our economy, government and future of our country.” The People’s Union USA boycott calls for no spending on fast food, gas or at major retailers – “No Amazon, No Walmart, No Best Buy” – beginning at midnight on Feb. 27 through midnight Feb. 28. After the single-day spending pause, People’s Union plans week-long protests against specific retailers, including Amazon Mar. 7-14, Nestlé Mar. 21-28 and Walmart Apr. 7-13. More details.
Key Takeaways
- In an early showing of Republican lawmakers’ evolving attitudes toward unionization, the heavily-Republican Montana legislature voted down two pieces of legislation designed to weaken labor unions. One would have prevented public employers from automatically deducting union dues from paychecks (authored by the senate president) and the other would have prevented public employers from compensating workers for time spent on union-related activities. They were both opposed by all the Democrats but also by a significant number of Republicans. Employers need to pay attention to this dynamic going forward as it could over time begin to impact the fate of more direct business-model issues like wages and benefits.
- Respected employer-side law firm Littler just released a report based on a study of 350 c-suite executives at major American employers. They found that about half (49 percent) of senior leaders surveyed post-inauguration say they are not considering new or further rollbacks of their DEI programs as a result of the Trump administration’s executive orders, with just 8 percent seriously considering changes. Six in 10 say they are waiting for further details on the new administration’s priorities – including enforcement mechanisms – before making any modifications. While many companies do not appear to be abandoning their DEI programs overnight, they are very aware of the threats. Approximately half (55 percent) are more worried post-inauguration about the risk of DEI-related lawsuits, government enforcement actions, and shareholder proposals. Littler contends that modifying or even eliminating DEI programs will prove especially tough for large organizations due to its importance for talent recruitment and retention. 88 percent of C-suite leaders at large companies said employee expectations played at least some role in maintaining or expanding their DEI efforts, versus 72 percent at smaller employers. The study can be found here.