Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to Seattle Minimum Wage Increase
Court declined to hear Franchise owners' challenge to the $15 per hour wage
— -- Today the Supreme Court said it will not take up the challenge to Seattle’s minimum wage increase. The lower court upheld a Seattle law that requires business with five hundred or more employees to raise their minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2018.
The International Franchise Association (IFA), along with other franchise business, brought the challenge to the court. They argued they should have the same phase-in requirements as independent local businesses. Under Seattle's minimum wage law, which took effect last April, business with more than five hundred employees must raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour over the three year period. Smaller businesses have up to seven years in which to phase in the increase. The franchise owners claim they are being treated differently because of their affiliation with national chains.
The IFA released a statement today decrying the Court's decision.
“Today’s decision from the Supreme Court is clearly a disappointment," said the president and CEO of IFA, Robert Cresanti. "Our appeal has always focused solely on the discriminatory treatment of franchisees under Seattle’s wage law and the motivation to discriminate against interstate commerce.”
“Seattle’s ordinance is blatantly discriminatory and affirmatively harms Seattle hard-working franchise small business owners every day since it has gone into effect,” he added.
The terms of the $15 per hour minimum wage initiative have been endorsed by workers' right advocates and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which believes that franchises should not be considered typical small business. The union argues that franchises have many more resources available to them than typical small businesses.
"The big business lobby has thrown everything they got at Seattle workers — but they keep on losing, and the economy continues to boom," a spokesperson from the organization Working Washington said in a statement to ABC News. "Today's ruling is another another win for workers and people of Seattle."
Seattle officials said the wage increase aims to help close the gap on income inequality.
Seattle has more than 600 franchise businesses affected by the ordinance.
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