Los Angeles Moves To Increase Hotel Workers Minimum Wage To $15.3

Date: September 25, 2014

Measure Applies To Larger Hotels, But May Be Precursor To Future Action

By a
12-3 vote on Wednesday, the Los Angeles City County raised the minimum wage for
workers at larger hotels to $15.37, one of the highest minimum wages in the
nation. If the law passes in a final vote next week, as is expected, it would
apply to hotels with more than 300 rooms in July 2015, and to those with at
least 125 rooms by July 2016. The move was backed by Mayor Eric Garcetti and
pushed heavily by Unite Here Local 11, a hotel workers union. The measure
passed despite warnings from business leaders that it will result in job losses
and was unfair in that it only applies to hotel employees. In fact, business
groups have threatened to sue if the hike is adopted, arguing that the law
would violate state and Federal equal protection clauses.

While that measure is unlikely to directly impact many small businesses, it
appears to be the first move in a broader effort to raise the minimum wage for
all employers in the city. Los Angeles’ political leaders are considering
Garcetti’s proposal to raise the city minimum wage to $13.25 an hour from the
current $9.00 an hour over the next three years.

What This Means Going Forward:

In addition to acting as a preview for a
broader wage hike, the hotel wage measure may also push other local governments
to follow suit. Interviewed by the Los Angeles Times, Kent Wong, director of
the UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education, said that the move may act as
a catalyst for similar action elsewhere across the nation, as the city’s
previous minimum wage hike did.

Further Reading:

The Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Reuters all report on the move, as do many
other sources.

Related:

A report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office confirms the findings of NFIB’s state-specific minimum wage studies.

This news article is intended to keep small business owners apprised of current events that may affect them. It does not necessarily reflect NFIB’s policy position on such issues.

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