Private Employers Mount Challenge to Los Angeles Living Wage Ordinance Requiring A Minimum Wage Of $10.64
In a unprecedented step last November, the Los Angeles City Counsel passed an ordinance that requires private hotels located on Century Boulevard near LAX to comply with the city’s living wage ordinance (which requires employers pay $10.64 per hour in wages and benefits). Prior to this ordinance, only employers who have contracts to do business with the city had to comply with the city’s living wage requirements. The city argues that it has the power to require these private hotel employers to pay higher wages due to the benefits that the hotels receive due to their proximity to LAX, which is owned by the city.
The ordinance consists of three measures. The first measure extends the city’s living wage requirements of $9.35 per hour for hotel employees who have health benefits or $10.64 per hour if the employees do not have health benefits. The second measure requires new purchasers of the hotels to retain existing employees for at least 90 days after taking control of the hotel. The third measure requires hotels to pass all service charges for banquets and special events on to servers and other line employees.
Los Angeles business leaders have gathered over 100,000 signatures to challenge the ordinance, placing it in a holding pattern for now. If the signatures are verified, the City Counsel will then have to decide whether to repeal the ordinance or to place a referendum on the ballot in the citywide elections in May 2007.
This ordinance poses a threat to businesses not only along the Century Boulevard Corridor, but to all businesses in the state of California. If the ordinance succeeds, it is very likely that cities throughout the state will similarly attempt to regulate private employers. This is simply a backdoor approach by the labor unions and other forces supporting this ordinance to attempt to increase the minimum wage even further, and to overturn the outcome of the voter’s rejection of a referendum in 2004 that would have required businesses to provide health care coverage to their employees. We will continue to monitor the status of the ordinance and publish updates as more information becomes available.