paid time off

Court upholds the will of the voters on Minimum Wage initiative (Prop. 206)

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Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Daniel Kiley today denied the Arizona Chamber of Commerce’s attempt to prevent the Minimum Wage initiative (Prop.206) from taking effect as scheduled on January 1. The Chamber, of course, will appeal.

The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports, Superior Court judge refuses to block minimum wage hike:

RaiseTheWageMaricopa County Superior Court Judge Daniel Kiley rebuffed arguments by business interests that Proposition 206 should have been split into two separate measures, one to set the minimum at $10 an hour and the other to require that employers give workers at least three days of paid personal leave.

Kiley also said there was no merit to the claim that the initiative violates a state constitutional provision which requires any voter-approved measure to have a separate source of revenues to cover the costs.

The judge said it may be that the state’s Medicaid program will increase what it pays to private contractors that offer nursing home and in-home services that now need pay workers only $8.05 an hour.

But he said nothing in the initiative actually mandates the higher expenditure. And he pointed out that both Arizona law and the contracts with Medicaid providers have provisions which say the state does not have to spend money it does not have.

Today’s ruling is unlikely the last word.

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Court refuses to enjoin the minimum wage initiative; hearing set for Tuesday

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Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Daniel Kiley refused a request by Chamber of Commerce organizations to immediately block the voter-approved hike in the minimum wage from taking effect as scheduled next year. the Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports, Judge refuses to block minimum wage hike:

RaiseTheWageKiley said there’s no basis for him to even consider whether to delay enforcement on the law, much less decide its constitutionality.

If nothing else, the judge noted that the challenge was filed only a day earlier. He said that means those defending the law — including both the attorney general’s office and Proposition 206 supporters — have not had a “fair opportunity” to respond to the allegations.

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Kiley did agree to consider the legal arguments in depth this coming Tuesday.

Kiley rejected claims by challengers that leaving the law in place before the full-blown hearing on its legality will cause hardship for employers.

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Chambers of Commerce sue to overturn the will of the voters on Minimum Wage Initiative

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RaiseTheWageThe incoming Speaker of the House, J.D. Mesnard, just happened to suggest on Monday that there appears to be legal grounds for someone to sue to overturn the Prop. 206 minimum wage hike approved by voters, but it won’t be him (wink, wink). House speaker mulls minimum wage lawsuit:

As to litigation, Mesnard said at this point he’s moving to take the case to court.

“I’m not spearheading anything,” he said. “Until today, I had no legal staff on hand,” Mesnard said, saying others may have to take the lead.

Mesnard does not need to file a lawsuit when he has the masters he serves in the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry to do it for him. Mesnard’s feigned knowledge of a lawsuit was political Kabuki theater. He was coordinating with the Chamber and he knew full well when he made his “suggestion” of a lawsuit that the Chamber was prepared to file a lawsuit to overturn the will of the voters this week. Suit filed to block minimum wage hike:

Unable to defeat it at the ballot, business interests are now trying to get a judge to void the voter-approved hike in the state minimum wage.

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Prop. 206, the Arizonans for Fair Wages and Healthy Families initiative is on the ballot

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While there is still legal wrangling over Prop. 205, the initiative to regulate marijuana like alcohol, one initiative is now certain to appear on the ballot: Prop. 206, the Arizonans for Fair Wages and Healthy Families, initiative, which would raise the minimum wage and require employers to provide paid time off.

Steve Chucri and the Arizona Restaurant Association lost their challenge on a legal technicality: their claim was time barred because it was filed too late. The lawyers in this case may have a problem, a blown deadline is one of the most frequent bar complaints made against attorneys. I’m just sayin’. Maybe Chucri will just refuse to tip for bad service.

Howard Fischer reports, High court confirms Arizona $12 minimum wage increase for November ballot:

RaiseTheWageArizonans will get to decide in November whether to hike the state’s minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2020 and require employers to give their workers paid time off.

In a brief order Tuesday, the Arizona Supreme Court said the Arizona Restaurant Association waited too long before filing its lawsuit challenging whether there were sufficient valid signatures to put Proposition 206 on the ballot. Justice Scott Bales, writing for the court, said the plain language of the statute gives foes just five days to act after the petitions are filed with the secretary of state’s office.

The high court specifically rejected arguments by attorneys for the restaurant group that the legislature, in crafting the law, must have meant that challengers have five business days. That would exclude weekends, which would have made the lawsuit timely.

Bales, however, said lawmakers know that words mean what they say.

“When the legislature wants to designate the meaning of ‘days’ in election statutes to be something other than calendar days … it has done so expressly,” he wrote. Bales said that did not happen here.

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Fight for your right to raise the minimum wage in Arizona

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Earlier this month, the Governor of Oregon signed into law a novel tiered minimum wage bill. Gov. Brown signs ‘monumental’ Oregon minimum wage bill:

RaiseTheWageGov. Kate Brown signed a bill enacting a double-digit increase in the state’s minimum wage, a boost that could give the state the highest minimum wage in the nation by 2022.

Shortly thereafter, President Barack Obama released a statement commending Brown and the Legislature while criticizing Congress for inaction on raising the federal minimum wage.

Brown told reporters at the bill signing ceremony that increasing the minimum wage was her top priority for the 2016 legislative session. The law takes effect July 1, with a 50-cent increase in the statewide minimum wage.

Passing the minimum wage increase was no small feat. Lobbyists for business and labor groups were firmly camped on opposite sides of the wage debate. The labor groups filed ballot measures to raise the minimum wage. That effectively forced the Legislature to come up with its own solution before a costly and potentially politically damaging ballot measure fight ensued.

The compromise developed between legislators and business and labor lobbyists is novel because it creates three minimum wage tiers for the state. Rural areas will see a wage increase from the current $9.25 to $12.50 by 2022. Much of the state will use a “base wage,” which will increase to $13.50 by 2022. The third tier is in the Portland area, which will increase to $14.75 by 2022.  After 2022, the base wage will be adjusted for inflation, with the Portland wage tied $1.25 above and the rural wage $1 below the base wage.

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