Wages
Minnesota – The state’s new Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board (a workforce standards board similar to California’s Fast Food Council) took its first significant vote this week agreeing to raise the pay floor to $23.49/hr on average in 2027 for nursing home workers, while guaranteeing 11 paid holidays. The worker and government representatives on the board approved the minimum wages without the support of the board’s nursing home industry representatives, who abstained. The Democratic-controlled Minnesota Legislature voted last year to create the board, one of the first in the country empowered to set minimum pay and benefits for workers across an entire industry. The nine-member panel comprising three worker representatives, three state government officials and three industry leaders approved four minimum wages for nursing home staff. The higher wages will mostly be covered by the government, since about 80 percent of nursing homes’ revenue comes from Minnesota’s Medicaid program called Medical Assistance. A similar board is being considered for restaurant-industry jobs. More details.
Missouri – Advocates for a minimum wage increase, Missourians for Healthy Families and Fair Wages, submitted a proposed ballot initiative to the secretary of state’s office. The coalition gathered more than 210,000 signatures (with signatures from residents in each of Missouri’s 114 counties). Nearly 1,000 volunteers for the organization started collecting signatures for this petition on April 4, 2023. According to the secretary of state’s office, the campaign only needed to submit a total of 107,246 signatures from at least six of the eight congressional districts to qualify for the Nov. ballot. The petition calls for a minimum wage increase from $12.30/hr to $13.75/hr by Jan. 1, 2025, and an increase to $15/hr by Jan. 1, 2026, for private businesses. It will continue to increase by $1.25/hr annually, after those initial increases. Additionally, it would give one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. Small businesses with 15 or fewer workers must allow their employees to take up to five days per year, and larger businesses must allow seven days per year. The office has four weeks to distribute the signatures to each respected election authority for certification. More details.
Ohio – Legislation has been introduced by a Republican senator to raise the minimum wage to $15/hr and increase the server wage to $7.50/hr by 2028. The legislation is widely seen as an attempt to head off momentum for the pending ballot initiative this Nov. to increase the state minimum wage to $12.75/hr on Jan. 1, 2025 and then to $15/hr by 2026. The tipped wage would be phased-out over time until full elimination in 2029. Due to internal legislative dynamics, the bill has an uphill battle. More details.
Rhode Island – The senate passed a resolution that would create a special legislative commission to study and review the state’s minimum wage. The report would be due no later than May 4, 2025. The legislation was in response to another bill to eliminate the tip credit in the state which has been tabled. Rhode Island’s current minimum wage is $14/hr but the server wage is $3.89/hr. There has been no action in the house to date. More details.
Bellingham, WA – As of May 1, all employers in Bellingham are required to pay their employees at least $17.28/hr, $1.00 more than Washington’s minimum wage for 2024 ($16.28/hr). Officials said its minimum wage requirement applies to all hours worked by employees within the geographic boundaries of the city. Next May, the wage will increase to $2/hr above the state wage. The increase is a result of a ballot measure that voters approved last Nov. More details.
Paid Leave
Delaware – Legislation requiring all employers to provide their employees at least one hour of earned sick time for every 30 hours advanced out of a house committee. The bill would give workers the right to sick and safety leave after 90 days of employment with a company, paid at the employee’s regular wage and benefit rate. The benefit is capped at 40 hours per year and can be carried into the next year. Sick and safety leave applies to mental and physical needs, as well as time needed to care for a family member. Under the bill, employers with nine employees or less may offer this benefit as unpaid time, but their job would remain protected during that time. If passed and signed by the governor, the law would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2027. Civil fines for violations would cost at least $1,000 and no more than $5,000. Similar legislation failed in 2022. The bill has an additional committee stop in the house. More details.
Labor Policy
EEOC – A group of 17 Republican attorneys general filed a lawsuit in Arkansas targeting abortion provisions in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) recently finalized rules related to the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). The legislation passed in late 2022 with bipartisan support as part of the end-of-year spending deal. The law took effect last summer, but the legislation gave the EEOC a few months beyond that to devise rules to help employers and workers alike navigate what situations and temporary accommodations are, or are not, covered by the statute. Social conservatives felt blindsided by the EEOC’s proposed regulations when they were unveiled in August due to the inclusion of abortion under the umbrella of “related medical conditions” to which the law applies. Neither the regulations nor the PWFA require employers to pay for abortion procedures, provide paid leave, or otherwise cover abortion. Still the lawsuit argues that the “reasonable accommodations” that are central to PWFA force employers to effectively “facilitate workers’ abortions or face federal suit – even those elective abortions of healthy pregnancies that are illegal under state law,” according to the complaint. More details.
EEOC – For the first time in 25 years, the EEOC published final guidance on harassment in the workplace, updating the federal workplace guidelines to provide protections for transgender workers related to misgendering and the denial of bathroom access. This new guidance reflects the 2020 U.S Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, a landmark decision which held that Title VII’s prohibition on sex discrimination extends to bias based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Per the new guidelines, an employer who repeatedly and intentionally misgenders an individual by using the “name or pronoun inconsistent with the individual’s known gender identity,” or by denying an employee access “to a bathroom or other sex-segregated facility consistent with the individual’s gender identity” is committing unlawful workplace harassment. This, the guidance states, is considered sex-based discrimination under Title VII. The guidance document consolidates and replaces five of the agency’s previous guidance documents issued between 1987 and 1999, which established guidelines on workplace harassment law. More details.
NLRB – A National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) administrative law judge applied the recent Cemex decision and found that Woodford Reserve must recognize and bargain with a union despite the employees rejecting the union in an election. The judge found that the company’s conduct undermined unionization efforts at its Kentucky distillery by awarding pay raises, relaxing its vacation policy and handing out bottles of whiskey to workers before a vote on whether to unionize. The judge found that the incentives offered to workers were timed to influence the outcome of the unionization vote. The 2022 unionization effort failed, but the judge set aside the election results and said Woodford Reserve and its parent company should recognize and bargain with the local Teamsters union. This same judge was the first to apply the Cemex standard in another case. More details.
Labor Activism
San Diego, CA – Hundreds of union members held a mile-long march and rally calling on the city council to pass an ordinance mandating a $25/hr minimum wage for hotel, janitorial, convention center, and sports arena workers in the city. If ultimately introduced and passed, it would be nearly a 50 percent increase in the local wage. There has been no bill introduced to date. More details.
Amazon – A federal administrative law judge ruled that Amazon’s CEO violated labor law by making certain anti-union comments during media interviews two years ago. The ruling follows a complaint filed in 2022 by the NLRB that accused him of crossing the line during sit-down interviews in which he said that workers were better off without a union. In the ruling, an NLRB judge pointed to statements Amazon’s chief executive made on CNBC’s television program “Squawk Box,” and during two summits organized by Bloomberg News and the New York Times. The judge found that predictions made about unionization changing the employee-employer relationship were lawful, but other statements were unlawful, such as how employees would be less empowered under a union and “find it harder to get things done quickly and would be better off.” More details.
Misc.
California – The attorney general announced that the new state law banning “junk fees” will extend to surcharges at restaurants. Under the law which passed last year (effective starting July 1, 2024), California restaurants will be prohibited from adding service fees to bills. This legislative change also opens the door to potential legal challenges. Businesses that fail to comply could face lawsuits with damages starting at $1,000. The law exempts food delivery platforms like DoorDash from including service fees in the prices shown to consumers. More details.
Key Takeaways
- The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released its updated Strategic Operating Plan which serves as a blueprint for the agency’s priorities. According to the document, the IRS intends to triple the audit rates of large companies (as defined by those with at least $250 million in assets and it will be even more aggressive with pass-through entities. While the agency is still significantly over-burdened, it received significant, dedicated funds toward closing the collections gap. Brands should prepare accordingly.
- Labor activists participated in annual May Day celebrations across the globe this past week. In the U.S., UNITE HERE organized hotel worker walkouts in 18 cities. A number of major metros experienced protests and strikes. (In the past, restaurant and retail locations have been targeted on May Day.) Look for the last half of the year, especially as the election nears, to be very busy with coordinated worker actions, walkouts, and strikes at notable hospitality and tourism industry brands, including restaurants.
Podcast
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