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Lawsuit Filed to Prevent Federal Contractor Wage Hike


Recently, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed suit against the Biden administration over the planned wage hike for federal contractors.

President Joe Biden had announced his administration would implement a wage hike for federal contractors that would see these workers get $15/hour.  However, according to Paxton, raising wage rates for federal contractors to $15/hour amounts to federal overreach that would harm the Texas economy.  Under this line of reasoning, Paxton has argued that raising wage rates to $15/hour would require many employers to dismiss employees to help defray the increased labor costs.  As well, the argument follows that the increase in labor costs would ultimately be passed onto Texas consumers.  Rounding out the argument against the wage hike, Paxton argued that the ability to raise wage rates fell solely to the U.S. Congress, rather than the President.  Note, Mississippi and Louisiana have joined the suit as well.  (There is also another suit that was filed over this federal contractor pay hike.  That lawsuit includes Arizona, Idaho, Indiana, Nebraska, and South Carolina.)

At this point, there has not been a response filed to this lawsuit.  For the time being, this is one for readers to keep an eye on going forward.


For additional information:  https://www.keranews.org/texas-news/2022-02-10/texas-attorney-general-ken-paxton-sues-biden-over-minimum-wage-hike-for-federal-contractors

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