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What I’ve Been Reading This Week: Hourly Worker Edition

 

Hazard pay has been (and continues to be) a hot topic.  Next week, I will highlight a recent lawsuit filed by two trade groups against the city of Seattle that delves more into the matter.  For the purposes of this post, I will give a brief nod to the topic by noting how one employer, Krogers, has responded to the implementation of a hazard pay ordinance in Long Beach.

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


Low Wage Workers in Texas Hang Hat On Hope of Increase to Hourly Wage Rate

The Texas Tribune published an article late last week in which it took note of the minimum wage fight ongoing in Texas.  As the article notes, the hourly minimum wage rate in Texas is currently $7.25 (as is the federal hourly minimum wage rate.)  However, despite unsuccessful attempts by Texas Legislators to raise the hourly wage rate in the state (which have been stymied by Texas Republicans), there is new hope among hourly and low wage workers in the state that a Democratic controlled Congress and White House will change that.  (Granted, that would result in a change to the federal hourly minimum wage rate.)  As readers might recall, there has been vocal support from the Biden administration for an increase to the federal hourly minimum wage rate to $15/hour.  While any hourly minimum wage increase would likely be scaled in over a few years, I think it is certainly likely that a Democratic controlled Congress will get minimum wage legislation on President Biden’s desk sooner rather than later.


Krogers to Shutter Two Locations Rather Than Pay Employees Hazard Pay

On the heels of Long Beach approving a hazard pay ordinance last month that requires grocery stores with at least 300 workers nationwide and more than 15 employees within Long Beach to pay an extra $4/hour in hazard pay to its employees for a 120 period, Kroger has decided to close two of its stores in the area.  Kroger apparently identified the closure of the two stores as being due to them being underperforming and not necessarily a reflection of the hazard pay ordinance.  Nevertheless, Kroger has called the ordinance “misguided” and it is likely that the ordinance spurred plans to close the stores quicker than might have originally been planned.  As other cities implement related hazard pay ordinances, it will be interesting to see if other employers follow the lead of Krogers and close locations.

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