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What I’ve Been Reading This Week


Yesterday morning, the House of Representatives approved a bill that would raise the federal minimum wage rate to $15/hour by 2025.  With minimum wage and the struggle of hourly workers to make ends meet being a hot button issue for many 2020 candidates for President, I would expect attention to now turn to the Senate with increased pressure put on lawmakers to approve a minimum wage hike.  Of note, with several Democratic Senators running for President and looking to make a name for themselves by pushing for a progressive piece of legislation, this is likely to remain in the news for the foreseeable future.

As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week.


House of Representatives Passes Raise the Wage Act

Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed the Raise the Wage Act which would gradually raise the federal minimum wage rate from $7.25/hour up to $15/hour by 2025.  The House, controlled by Democrats, approved the bill with a 231 - 199 vote in favor of passage of the legislation.  I would not call passage of this bill a surprise, although there was some struggle among Democrats to secure the necessary votes to approve the bill.  One of those concessions involved raising the federal minimum wage rate gradually over six years rather than five (as had originally been discussed.)  Next stop for the bill is the Republican controlled Senate where many expect the bill will falter.  With that being said, there could be a compromise reached, as there appears to be some appetite among a group of Republicans for a minimum wage hike.  However, I find it highly unlikely the bill would survive as currently written, given that a $15/hour minimum wage rate is not viewed favorably by a majority of Republicans in the Senate.


Pennsylvania Supreme Court Upholds Pittsburgh Paid Sick Days Act

This past Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a 4 - 3 ruling in which it reversed two lower court decisions and held that the Pittsburgh Paid Sick Days Act was lawful.  The Pittsburgh Paid Sick Days Act provide that private employers in the city with 15+ employees must provide paid sick leave, up to 40 hours per year at a rate of 1 hour of leave earned for every 35 hours worked.  For those private employers in the city with less than 15 employees, they will also be required to provide paid sick leave to their employees.  Those employees can accrue paid sick leave at the same rate but are capped at 24 hours per year.  This decision was cheered by many pro-employee groups as a decisive victory after the two prior decisions which found the paid leave law to be invalid.  While the Supreme Court's 46 page opinion is quite voluminous, it is worth a review for those interested in the topic.


Seven of the 2020 Democratic Candidates & Their Position on Relevant Labor & Employment Matters

While there are over twenty (yes, twenty) candidates running for the 2020 Democratic nomination for President, there has started to emerge a pack of contenders that appear to have a viable shot at the nomination.  As a result, a recent article was published that took a look at how seven of these candidates stand on certain hot button labor & employment issues, including whether to eliminate right to work laws, whether to allow card checks for union elections, and whether to raise the federal minimum wage rate to $15/hour.  While the responses from these candidates might not surprise you (spoiler alert, the candidates take a strong employee/union stance on the topics), it is worth reviewing to see where some of the major 2020 Democratic contenders stand.


A Closer Look at Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta’s Final Days Before Resigning

Politico published an article late last week that gives an insight into the final few days of Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta’s tenure as the head of the Department of Labor.  Readers will recall that Secretary Acosta’s surprise resignation announcement was made a week ago at the White House with President Donald Trump.  While there is much that still remains unknown about the final days of Secretary Acosta’s tenure at the Department of Labor, this article provides a striking insight into how some things played out.

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