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What I’ve Been Reading This Week


It is not every day that I wake up to an email from a regular reader of the blog with a tip about a recent employment law development.  With that being said, Tuesday morning I had an article sent my way that is well worth highlighting this week.  With Sam’s Club boosting hourly pay rates recently, it certainly seems like WalMart might be following suit shortly as big box retailers fight to attract (and retain) workers.

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


Amazon v WalMart: The Fight To Staff a Workforce

At this point, we are only a few short weeks away from the holding holiday season.  As a result, many large scale employers such as Amazon and WalMart are ramping up efforts to staff open positions with Amazon seeking to add an additional 55,000 workers and WalMart an additional 20,000.  With a tight labor market and workers in high demand, that means employers are fighting to attract and retain workers.  In doing so, Amazon has recently announced it would raise pay rates to $18/hour.  Earlier this month,WalMart announced it would end bonuses for workers next January and instead roll those bonuses into higher wages.  Something tells me this is not the last we have heard of Amazon or WalMart implementing new policies to draw in workers.


With the Upcoming Holiday Season, These 5 Employers Offer the Highest Hourly Rates

Colette Bennett posted an article on Tuesday which noted the top five retailers that are offering the highest hourly pay rate this holiday season.  I will note that many of these employers have implemented their higher pay rates beyond just the holiday season.  However it is noteworthy to se how these employers are aggressively ramping up pay rates to draw in workers.


Puerto Rico Raises Hourly Minimum Wage Rate to at Least $8.50 Starting January 2022

As NBCNews reported on Wednesday, Puerto Rico is raising its hourly pay rate from $7.50/hour to $8.50/hour starting in January.  The law, signed by Governor Pedro Pierluisi, will see the hourly pay rate increase to $9.50/hour in July of 2023 and then a potential increase to $10.50/hour.  Although it is worth noting that the increase to $10.50/hour would take additional legislative action.  As readers might suspect, many cheered this news as a much needed boost to help lift Puerto Ricans out of poverty.  However, critics have been quick to point out that even with this pay raise (and the subsequent pay raise in 2023), it still would not do enough to lift Puerto Ricans out of poverty.  Perhaps critics are right…but I suppose you have to start somewhere and in this case, $8.50/hour will be a step in the right direction.

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