Wages
Chicago, IL – A proposed ordinance was introduced in the city council that would “pause” the current ordinance that phases out the tip credit by 2028. Alderman Bennet Lawson from the Lakeview area correctly anticipated that the bill would be sent to multiple committees and as a result, to the Rules Committee first where it will likely die; however, he wanted to start a conversation regarding the law’s devastating effect on the restaurant industry. No hearing for the bill has been scheduled. More details.
Los Angeles, CA – The city council gave final approval to a proposal that would increase the minimum wage for hotel and airport workers with the goal of providing them $30/hr by 2028. Under the plan, hotel and airport workers will receive $22.50/hr beginning in July, followed by a $2.50/hr increase in each of the following three years. The workers will earn $25/hr in 2026, $27.50/hr in 2027 and $30/hr in 2028 when the Olympic and Paralympic Games arrive in the L.A. region. Employers will also be required to provide a new $8.35/hr payment to cover health care starting Jan. 1, 2026. The city is expected to establish a public housekeeping training requirement as well, similar to policies in Santa Monica and West Hollywood, but it would only affect hotels with more than 60 rooms. The council gave initial approval to the measure earlier this month on a 12-3 vote and voted 8-3 in support of the plan late last week. More details.
New York City – Mayoral candidate and former Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that, if elected, he would seek to raise the city’s minimum wage to $20/hr by 2027. Cuomo said that if the statewide $15/hr legislation enacted during his governorship had been indexed to inflation then the wage would already be at $20/hr. The city’s minimum wage was raised twice in the past two years – in 2024 it was raised to $16/hr and this year, there was another 50-cent increase to the current $16.50 an hour. More details.
Portland, ME – A city council committee advanced a proposal to put a $20/hr wage provision in front of the voters. The proposal would raise the city’s minimum wage to $20/hr by 2029 and, if passed, the measure would go to the 2025 Nov. ballot. The full committee is expected to vote on the bill next month. More details.
Labor Policy
EEOC – The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) opened the 2024 EEO-1 data-collection cycle and set June 24, 2025, as the filing deadline for submissions. The EEO-1 report is an annual employment information report that employers must submit to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. It collects data on an employer’s workforce, broken down by race, gender, and job category. Private employers with 100 or more employees are typically required to file this report. This data helps the EEOC monitor hiring trends and ensure compliance with civil rights laws. The agency has changed the report, eliminating the option allowing employers to voluntarily report employees who self-identify as “non-binary.” Employers now only have the option to report employees as male or female. Acting EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas issued a public statement reminding employers of their “obligations under Title VII not to take any employment actions based on, or motivated in whole or in part by, an employee’s race, sex, or other protected characteristics.” She cautioned companies not to “use information about your employees’ race/ethnicity or sex – including demographic data you collect and report in EEO-1 Component 1 reports – to facilitate unlawful employment discrimination based on race, sex, or other protected characteristics in violation of Title VII.” More details.
EEOC – A federal court vacated portions of the EEOC workplace harassment guidance, specifically guidance on harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The court vacated portions of the EEOC’s enforcement guidance because the EEOC allegedly “exceeded its statutory authority by issuing” it and by “requiring bathroom, dress, and pronoun accommodations inconsistent with the text, history, and tradition of Title VII and recent Supreme Court precedent.” For context, in April 2024, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace. The Enforcement Guidance addressed, among other things, harassment and discrimination based on gender identity. The State of Texas and the Heritage Foundation then sued the EEOC, seeking to block the gender identity portions of the Enforcement Guidance from taking effect. Last week, Trump appointee Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and vacated the portions of the Enforcement Guidance that addressed pronoun policies, sex-segregated facilities, and appearance. The rest of the Enforcement Guidance is still in place. More details.
NLRB – The U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision granting President Trump’s emergency application to stay D.C. Circuit Court orders that reinstated National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) member Gwynne A. Wilcox and Merit Systems Protection Board (“MSPB”) member Cathy A. Harris. This stay will remain in effect while the D.C. Circuit Court continues to review whether their removals were lawful. Earlier this year, Trump’s controversial firing of Wilcox sparked legal battles. Wilcox sued, arguing that her dismissal violated federal law that only permits removal of Board members for “neglect of duty or malfeasance.” The D.C. Circuit Court reinstated Wilcox, restoring the Board to a quorum of at least three members. However, on April 9, 2025, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked her return, foreshadowing its latest decision. The Court’s ruling underscores the President’s power to remove executive officials at will, drawing a sharp distinction between independent federal agencies and the Federal Reserve. While the Court allowed Trump to remove officials from the NLRB and MSPB, it made clear that this authority does not extend to the Federal Reserve, which it described as a “uniquely structured, quasi-private entity” warranting special independence. In a forceful dissent, Justice Kagan – joined by Justices Sotomayor and Jackson – argued that the ruling undermines the long-standing precedent set by Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, 295 U.S. 602 (1935), which protected members of bipartisan, expert-led agencies like the NLRB from at-will dismissal by the President. More details.
Philadelphia, PA – The mayor signed legislation titled the Protect Our Workers, Enforce Rights (POWER) Act. This bill provides significant updates to Title 9 of the Philadelphia Code as it pertains to paid sick leave, wage theft, protection of domestic workers, fair work week, protecting victims of retaliation, and enforcement of these worker protection ordinances. The new law “empowers the Office of Worker Protection to hold ‘bad actors’ accountable when they violate labor law and provides support and protections for the city’s most vulnerable and exploited workers.” The law strengthens the city’s Department of Labor, enabling more thorough and proactive workplace investigations and allowing the agency to suspend the business licenses of bad actor employers. The law also mandates more public reporting, including a “Bad Actors Database” that lists employers with 3 or more violations, and establishes consistent timelines across multiple labor laws. Applicable to all employers operating within the city’s geographic boundaries, the act introduces stringent measures to prevent retaliation against employees who assert their rights and empowers the Office of Worker Protections to enforce compliance with local worker protection laws by imposing steeper financial penalties on noncompliant employers. Supporters noted that while all employers in the city are covered, particular focus will be on domestic, restaurant, and temporary workers. More details.
Food Policy
MAHA Commission – Barely a week after the Administration released its long-awaited report, The MAHA Report: Make Our Children Healthy Again, an updated version of the report was posted online with significant changes to the text and the works cited. Touted by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as a milestone, the report lays out the government’s priorities for addressing chronic health problems in children, which it ascribes to poor diet, lack of exercise, stress, overprescribing of drugs and exposure to environmental chemicals. However, despite 522 references to studies, government reports and news articles, researchers pointed out that the report was rife with errors including references that were wrong or don’t appear to exist. In other cases, studies in the report were misrepresented, according to the researchers who conducted them. The White House called it a “formatting error.” More details.
Louisiana – Early next week, the house will debate and likely advance senate-passed legislation that would require products containing artificial dyes, chemical additives, and other ingredients to include a warning label on the product where the substances are banned or not authorized in other countries. The bill lists 51 different ingredients that would require the warning, including several synthetic dyes, synthetic or artificial vanillin, propylparaben, potassium bromate, melatonin, bleached flour, and others. Additionally, SB 14 would prohibit public schools and non-public schools receiving state funds from serving ultra-processed foods. The bill defines ultra-processed food as any food or beverage that contains the following: Blue dye 1, Blue dye 2, Green dye 3, Red dye 3, Red dye 40, Yellow dye 5, Yellow dye 6, azodicarbonamide, Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), Potassium bromate, propylparaben, and titanium dioxide. The industry successfully fought for an amendment clarifying the disclosure language regarding seed oils. The governor will sign the bill when it gets to his desk. More details.
Texas – Legislation is headed to the governor that would require warning labels on food products that contain additives, chemicals, or ingredients banned in other countries and establishes a committee – the Texas Nutrition Advisory Committee – to develop nutritional guidelines, examine the impact of nutrition on health, and provide education on ultra-processed foods. The industry was successful in passing significant amendments including one that removed aspartame, high fructose corn syrup, potassium sorbate, saccharine, artificial vanilla, and other agricultural products from the list of ingredients covered under the bill. Additionally, another amendment preempts the labeling requirement if the product is already regulated by the USDA Food Safety & Inspection Service. The governor is expected to sign the bill. More details.
Trade Policy
Tariffs – A federal appeals court in Washington reinstated President Trump’s expansive tariffs on foreign imports on Thursday, one day after the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that Trump had exceeded his authority under emergency powers. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a temporary stay on the lower court’s decision, allowing the tariffs announced on April 2 – labelled by Trump as “Liberation Day” duties – to remain in effect while the government appeals. The judgment issued Wednesday night by the U.S. Court of International Trade is “temporarily stayed until further notice while this court considers the motions papers,” the appeals court said in its order. More details.
Misc.
Texas – The governor signed legislation that prevents local entities from enacting regulations that conflict with state laws regarding the food service industry. The new law updates the Health and Safety Code to clarify that counties can only require food service permits in accordance with state law and specific limitations and requires local public health agencies to provide 60 days’ notice before changing permitting or health inspection procedures. Additionally, the new law removes the requirement for food service establishments to obtain permits and pay fees related to sound regulations, which can be triggered by activities like accepting deliveries or playing music within reasonable limits. It also establishes a cap on the fees that local governments can charge for food service permits. More details.
Key Takeaway
- This week, the Trump Administration released a long list of cities and counties in over 30 states labeling them as sanctuary jurisdictions that do not comply with federal immigration law. With few exceptions, the vast majority of the cities are in populous blue states, blue metros and suburban counties – i.e. most with large restaurant footprints. The administration has threatened legal action against those jurisdictions on top of other lawsuits currently pending. Brands with operations in these areas should anticipate an escalation of the issue and prepare for possible DHS raids as we have seen in numerous cities already.
Podcast
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