Increasing Minimum Wages Across the West Coast . . . and Elsewhere

City of SeaTac approves Proposition 1. During the November 5, 2013, general election, 50.64 percent of voters in the City of SeaTac approved the Proposition 1 initiative, “Setting Minimum Employment Standards for Hospitality and Transportation Industry Employers.” As a result, employees at hospitality and transportation businesses in SeaTac received an increase in minimum wages, paid sick and safety leave, and other benefits. Unlike more recent raises, the minimum wage for SeaTac hospitality and transportation employees was raised directly to $15 per hour without any incremental steps. Prior to adoption of the ordinance, the state minimum wage applied. Thus, the recent changes to the minimum wage for the City of SeaTac occurred as follows:

$ 9.32	2013 state minimum wage
$15.00	January 1, 2014
$15.24	2015, based on annual CPI increase
$15.24	2016, based on (no) annual CPI increase

SeaTac, Wash. Code § 7.45.05.

Seattle creates complex path to $15 per hour. Most municipalities that have adopted significant increases to the minimum wage have done so in a relatively simplistic fashion—via either a straightforward jump to $15 (e.g., SeaTac) or incremental increases, over a period of years, that are the same for all affected employers (e.g., San Francisco, Oakland, Tacoma, as well as the state of Alaska). Given that the Seattle code was created through a collaborative effort among parties from government, labor, and business, the city has created a complex path to $15. In 2014, the City of Seattle implemented legislation, supported by the mayor and passed by the city council, to reach a $15 minimum wage for all workers by 2021 through multiple routes, depending on the size of the employer. Under Seattle’s code, the first date that the minimum wage will reach $15 will be January 1, 2017. The minimum wage is not capped at $15 per hour and will continue to increase based upon ordinance or the CPI rate, depending on the year and the size of the employer. Seattle, Wash. Code ch. 14.19.

To begin, Seattle employers with more than 500 employees nationally who do not make payments toward medical benefits must pay minimum wage in step increases over three years. Those increases are as follows:

$11.00	April 1, 2015
$13.00	January 1, 2016
$15.00	January 1, 2017
$XX.00	Annual increase based on CPI rate beginning January 1, 2018

Seattle, Wash. Code § 14.19.030(A).

Seattle employers with more than 500 employees nationally who make payments toward medical benefits are subject to the following increases:

$11.00	April 1, 2015
$12.50	January 1, 2016
$13.20	January 1, 2017
$15.00	January 1, 2018

Seattle, Wash. Code § 14.19.030(B).

Until January 1, 2025, Seattle employers with fewer than 500 employees will pay the lower of either (i) the minimum wage applicable to large employers or (ii) minimum compensation. The hourly minimum compensation requirement can be paid through wages meeting at least the minimum wage for small employers, plus additional wages, tips, and/or money paid by an employer toward an individual employee’s medical benefits plan.

Minimum Compensation $11.00 by April 1, 2015 $12.00 by January 1, 2016 $13.00 by January 1, 2017 $14.00 by January 1, 2018 $15.00 by January 1, 2019 $15.75 by January 1, 2020 Minimum compensation expires January 1, 2025.

Minimum Wage for Small Employers $10.00 by April 1, 2015 $10.50 by January 1, 2016 $11.00 by January 1, 2017 $11.50 by January 1, 2018 $12.00 by January 1, 2019 $13.50 by January 1, 2020 $15.00 by January 1, 2021 $15.75 by January 1, 2022 $16.50 by January 1, 2023 $17.25 by January 1, 2024 Same hourly minimum as large employers beginning January 1, 2025

Seattle, Wash. Code §§ 14.19.010, 14.19.040, 14.19.050.

Tacoma approves alternative ballot measure. During the November 2015 general election, voters in the City of Tacoma, Washington State’s second-largest city, had competing minimum wage measures on its ballot. The first measure, a citizen initiative, would have raised the minimum wage from the state’s minimum wage of $9.47 to $15 for all businesses with $300,000 or more in gross annual revenue. In response, the Tacoma City Council created an alternative measure. That measure proposed to raise the minimum wage to $12 over three years. Nearly 60 percent of voters agreed to raise the minimum wage; over 70 percent of voters then chose the city’s alternative measure.

As a result, Tacoma’s minimum wage will change as follows:

$10.35	February 1, 2016
$11.15	January 1, 2017
$12.00	January 1, 2018
$XX.00	Annual increase based upon CPI rate beginning January 1, 2018

Tacoma, Wash. Code § 18.20.060. This minimum wage is available to all employees who work at least 80 hours per year within the city boundaries of Tacoma (including those who telecommute from Tacoma for an employer located outside Tacoma). Tacoma, Wash. Code § 18.20.050; Tacoma, Wash. Min. Wage Rule 1.5 (Jan. 7, 2016).

Spokane rejects Proposition 1. Also during the November 2015 general election, voters in the City of Spokane weighed a Worker Bill of Rights; although they resoundingly rejected Proposition 1 by 62 percent of the vote, the proposition did highlight innovative ideas for improving minimum compensation laws.In particular, the Worker Bill of Rights sought a “family wage” for employees working with employers with more than 150 employees, the right to equal pay for equal work, and the right not to be fired without “just cause.” The initiative also proposed to place workers’ rights over corporate law and limit a corporation’s power to override the proposed rights by explicitly eliminating the right to standing to do so. Spokane Proposition 1, §§ 120.A.1–.A.4 (2015).

The family wage would not have been a set minimum wage but was broadly defined, in part as

a wage that provides for basic needs and a limited ability to deal with future emergencies without the need of public assistance. The City of Spokane shall calculate the family wage to include, but not be limited to, basic necessities such as food, housing, utilities, transportation, health care, childcare, clothing and other personal items, emergency savings, and taxes. . . . If the City of Spokane does not calculate a family wage, then eligible employers must provide, at minimum, a wage equal to the higher of either (1) three times the federal poverty guidelines for a family of two, or (2) any family wage rate previously calculated by the City of Spokane.

Spokane Proposition 1, § 120.B.3 (2015). The initiative’s authors relied on a chart from Dr. Amy K. Glasmeier and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which suggested that workers should earn between $18 and $21 per hour in order to make ends meet.

The rights, if enacted, would have applied to

individual[s] employed on a full-time, part-time, temporary, or seasonal basis, including independent contractors, contracted workers, contingent workers, and persons made available to work for the employer through the services of a temporary service, staffing, employment agency, or similar entity. The rights in this section extend to all workers who are physically-present in Spokane for any portion of the worker’s employment.

Spokane Proposition 1, § 120.B.5.

Oakland approves Initiative Measure FF. Initiative Measure FF in Oakland was approved by approximately 82 percent of voters during the 2014 general election. Any employee who works at least two hours per week in Oakland, including part-time, temporary, and seasonal workers, is eligible for Oakland’s minimum wage. Paid sick leave is also now a benefit for employees in Oakland. Oakland, Cal. Code § 5.92.030. The recent changes to the minimum wage in Oakland occurred as follows:

$ 8.00–10.00	Varying state minimum wage
$12.25	March 2, 2015, followed by annual adjustment based on CPI
$12.55	January 1, 2016

Oakland, Cal. Code § 5.92.020; Cal. Lab. Code § 1182.12 (2013).

San Francisco approves Proposition J. In 2014, more than 77 percent of San Francisco voters approved Proposition J, a referendum to raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2018. Any employee who works at least two hours per week in San Francisco must be paid the minimum wage for each hour worked within the boundary. The minimum wage as of January 1, 2015, was $11.05. Thereafter, Proposition J required raises as follows:

$12.25	May 1, 2015
$13.00	July 1, 2016
$14.00	July 1, 2017
$15.00	July 1, 2018
$XX.00	Annual increase based upon CPI rate beginning July 1, 2019

S.F., Cal. Admin. Code § 12R.4 (2014).

New York City and State implement notable minimum wage increases. Following a wage board increase for certain fast-food workers to reach $15 per hour by 2018 in New York City and by 2021 statewide, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York State launched a statewide campaign to raise the state minimum wage to $15 by 2021 (and by 2018 in New York City). This campaign achieved swift success, and Governor Cuomo signed legislation raising the minimum wage only hours before Governor Brown did so in California. Under the new law, New York City’s schedule remains. Employees in Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester Counties will see an increase to $10 at the end of 2016, with a $1.00 increase each year until reaching $15 on December 31, 2021. Employees in the rest of New York will see the minimum wage increase to $9.70 at the end of 2016, then another $0.70 each year thereafter until reaching $12.50 at the end of 2020. The increases will continue to $15 based on an indexed schedule to be set by the director of the Division of Budget in consultation with the Department of Labor.

Other northeastern states offer mixed news on minimum wage. In Pittsburgh, city employees benefit from a $15 minimum wage. And, on March 7, 2016, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced an executive order that requires Pennsylvania state employees and employees working on future state contracts to be paid at least $10.15 an hour. Nonetheless, Pennsylvania’s statewide minimum wage remains at $7.25.

In Massachusetts, the statewide minimum wage is $10; but for home health-care workers, the minimum wage is $15.

The New Jersey minimum wage, controlled by that state’s constitution, is $8.38. However, there is some political support to move toward $15.

In Washington, D.C., the minimum wage will rise to $11.50 on July 1, 2016. After that, inflation will determine annual increases, if any.

There is, currently, little political movement for raises in the minimum wage in the South, where, in some jurisdictions, it is well below the federal minimum wage (e.g., as of April 1, 2016, Georgia’s minimum wage is $5.15).