Wages
Michigan – The governor indicated her intent to delay a pending increase in the state’s minimum wage scheduled for this coming Feb. She would likely need assistance from the legislature to do so. For background, earlier this year a state court ruled that the legislature violated the state’s constitution when it significantly amended voter-approved minimum wage and paid sick leave ballot initiatives. At that time (in 2018 just prior to the election), the Republican-controlled legislature utilized an “adopt and amend strategy,” under which they passed as legislation the ballot language and then after the election the legislature significantly amended them. The judge ruled that such practices diminish the people’s ability to initiate laws which he says violates the state’s constitution. If ultimately implemented, the provisions call for an increase in the minimum wage to $12/hr and then annually adjusted for inflation thereafter. It also calls for an immediate adjustment in the cash wage for tipped employees to $9.60/hr (80 percent of minimum wage), adjusting to 90 percent in 2023, and then full elimination of the tip credit by 2024. With regard to the paid leave provisions, all employers would be required to provide 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked (capped at 72 hours for employers with more than 10 employees and capped at 40 hours for employers with less than 10 employees). More details.
Ohio – The attorney general rejected a proposed ballot initiative to raise the state minimum wage to $15/hr by 2028 and eliminate the tip credit by 2029. The attorney general’s office cited “numerous omissions that, as a whole, would mislead a potential signer as to the actual scope and effect of the proposed amendment to the current constitutional provision,” saying the language didn’t meet the “fair and truthful” test. Proponents of the measure were encouraged to refile for the next election cycle. More details.
Portland, ME – Uber registered a new committee to push back on the pending Nov. ballot question that asks voters to approve a minimum wage increase to $18/hr by 2025 and eliminate the tip credit. In addition, certain categories of workers such as taxi drivers and those who work for ride-hailing services like Uber and who don’t currently receive the minimum wage, would be included in the pay bump. The committee, United for Portland Workers, has spent nearly $31,000 so far, mostly on research and polling. The money is in addition to the $75,000 Uber already has contributed to other committees opposed to Question D. The company has donated $50,000 to Enough is Enough, which is opposed to all 13 referendums in Portland, and $25,000 to Restaurant Industry United to which the National Restaurant Association also has contributed. More details.
Domino’s – A federal judge approved a nearly $2 million settlement between the company and a group of delivery drivers in Michigan. In June, drivers filed a lawsuit claiming the company took an unlawful tip credit and failed to adequately reimburse for delivery-related expenses, resulting in workers earning less than the “legally mandated minimum and overtime wage for all hours worked.” The company continues to face a wave of legal action across the country in this space. More details.
Labor Policy
NLRB – The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) extended by nearly a month (to Dec. 7th) the public comment period for its proposed joint employer rule which would establish two or more employers as joint employers if they “share or codetermine” key employment conditions such as pay, scheduling, workplace safety, and employee discipline policies. That includes indirect and reserved authority over those terms and conditions. The NLRB proposal would overturn a Trump-era effort to enshrine a stricter “substantial, direct and immediate” control over employment conditions in order to qualify as a joint employer. More details.
New Jersey – The state senate abruptly canceled a vote on house-passed legislation creating a temporary workers’ “bill of rights.” The proposed measure would give temporary workers the right to basic information in English and their native language, such as where they will be working, their pay rate, their schedule, what kind of work they will be doing, and how much sick time for which they’re eligible. It would also eliminate many of the fees that agencies deduct from workers’ paychecks, including mandatory fees for vans that take workers to their worksites each day. Temporary workers would also be guaranteed to earn at least minimum wage after fees are deducted from their checks by their temp agencies. Similar legislation has passed both chambers in the past but business groups have recently exerted tremendous pressure on lawmakers and now the future of the bill is unclear. Similar laws have been passed in Massachusetts and Illinois. More details.
Labor Activism
Amazon – Workers at a facility near Albany, N.Y., voted decisively against being represented by the Amazon Labor Union, potentially stalling efforts to expand unionization across the company. Employees at the warehouse cast 206 votes for the union and 406 against with nearly 950 workers eligible to vote. The vote was the Amazon Labor Union’s second unsuccessful election since a victory in April, when workers at an Amazon facility on Staten Island voted to form the first union of the company’s warehouse employees in the United States. A similar effort is currently underway at a warehouse in Southern California where employees have filed a petition with the NLRB to form a union. More details.
Apple – Employees at a store in Oklahoma City voted to join the Communications Workers of America, marking the second unionized Apple store in the U.S. The tally was 56 votes in favor and 32 opposed. Approximately 94 employees are now eligible to join CWA. Organizers have stated that they hope to secure more transparency and input on issues like safety, scheduling and pay. Separate unionization efforts at stores in Georgia and New York City have previously stalled. More details.
Key Takeaways
- The potential Kroger-Albertsons merger will set a new precedent for how regulators approach M&A in the retail space. Labor leaders have attacked the deal because they feel that the pending “monopoly” will give the company more leverage over workers and future labor contracts as well as be bad for consumers. The Democratic Caucus on Capitol Hill has also sprung into action, raising concerns. The episode will be informative as to how regulators will approach this space moving forward.
- This week, the R Street Institute, a free-market think tank based in Washington, DC, posted a piece entitled “The Truth About Alcohol Delivery and Underage Drinking” as a follow-up to a detailed study the group published in April. The study was primarily focused on direct shipment of wine to consumers but the data is applicable to important restaurant issues such as cocktails- to-go and third-party delivery of alcohol with food orders. The data show that there is no empirical evidence to suggest that states that modernized alcohol laws before and during the pandemic saw greater levels of underage drinking. As the entrenched alcohol establishment aggressively lobbies next year in state legislatures to regain lost market share to restaurants, they will continually play the “access to minors” card. The industry needs to counter that equally as aggressively with data-driven facts and research.
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.