Missouri companies sue to stop a law that raises minimum wage and requires paid sick leave

AP (on their own site) ^ | December 9, 2024 | SUMMER BALLENTINE

[Salman]

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Missouri business groups announced Monday that they have filed a lawsuit to try to stop a voter-approved law that will raise the state’s minimum wage and require employers to give workers paid sick leave.

The powerful Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, restaurant and grocers associations say the law violates a state constitutional requirement that ballot measures only address one issue because it included the minimum wage increase and paid sick leave.

The law will increase the state’s minimum wage from the current $12.30 an hour to $13.75 in January and $15 in 2026. It gives workers up to seven paid sick days per year starting in May.

Leaders of the minimum-wage campaign said businesses are trying to undo the will of voters.

“Missouri’s working class, in lockstep with allies across the state, went to the ballot box on Nov. 5 to overwhelmingly voice our need for paid sick days and fair wages in a free and fair election,” said Terrence Wise, of the Fight for 15. “It’s sickening to me that corporations are trying to steal our victory away and quiet the will of the voters who made this win possible.”

...

[Governor Dinwiddie]

The malingerers and privileged members of that oh so special aggrieved group will exploit the system until it dies as unsustainable.

[Rowdyone]

If the Chamber of Commerce is opposed to it then I’m for it. They are a primary source of support to Mitch McConnel and his gang of never Trumpers.

[montag813]

increase the state’s minimum wage from the current $12.30 an hour to $13.75 in January and $15 in 2026. It gives workers up to seven paid sick days per year starting in May.

....while illegals keep getting cash off the books below the minimum and rent houses with 18-22 people....and get zero sick days.

[CodeToad]

Minimum wage is a violation of commerce. It bans any job not worth that much money.

[Tell It Right]

Agreed. Originally, the federal minimum wage law took jobs away from blacks (by making cheaper labor illegal). Now, higher minimum wage laws take jobs away from both blacks and whites (because illegal labor is cheaper).

[cgbg]

The Chamber of Commerce needs to get their story straight.

Are they in favor of illegal immigration or against it?

Their website is just word salad.

https://www.uschamber.com/immigration

[econjack]

Just give it to them. If $15/hr is good, let’s raise it to $100/hr...that has to be great! Then you’ll hear them brag “I’ll make $100/hr...if I could find a job.” You idiots need to look at Seattle, SF, LA, and other cites that have raised the minimum wage to unsustainable levels to see what happens to employment figures in the industries affected by the minimum wage.

[NorthMountain]

while illegals keep getting cash off the books below the minimum and rent houses with 18-22 people....and get zero sick days and get cash and prizes from the government (paid for by you and me) because they're poor, downtrodden, and underprivileged.

[Right Brother]

Yes. Any government mandated wage is a form of fascism.

[libertylover]

Missouri business groups announced Monday that they have filed a lawsuit to try to stop a voter-approved law that will raise the state’s minimum wage and require employers to give workers paid sick leave.

I hope they win. We don't need government dictated wages and benefits. I'm sure they already have a minimum wage, which only makes things worse.

[Myrddin]

Small businesses unable to cope with a wage that costs more than the value produced by the employee will resolve the issue by termination of the employee or the business. In the last week, I have eaten at two restaurants. The Mexican restaurant had an apologetic sign on the door about being short staffed. No kidding. One employee cooking, serving, busing tables, washing dishes. Service was extremely slow and the food quality was much poorer than in prior years. Last night I tried out a local asian restaurant. I wanted a bowl of pho tai. My wife and son ordered other items. When we were seated, the other tables had already been served. The single server took our drink order. More people arrived 10 minutes after we were seated. No drinks yet. The server took orders from 4 other tables and a takeout before bothering to return to my table for the food order. Still no drinks. Other tables received their food and drinks. Finally my tea showed up. Another 20 minutes elapsed. My wife's entree arrives....no rice. The server runs to all the other tables. Finally my wife's tea arrives and my son's beverage arrived. Still no rice for my wife. The other tables are finishing their food and getting their checks. Finally my pho arrives...it's wrong. Chicken not beef as ordered. Back to the kitchen. My son's entree arrives with no rice and NO CHICKEN. Another 20 minutes elapses. The tables are being bused from the other customers that arrived long after we did. My pho finally arrives. The pho is good. My wife's rice never showed up. We asked for the check. Had to adjust to remove the chicken charge from my son's entree. Nearly 2 HOURS elapsed from the time we were seated to the time we paid the check. It will be my last trip to this business.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

As Thomas Sowell says, the true minimum wage is zero.

Thomas Sowell also points out that the black unemployment rate was lower than the white unemployment rate until passage of the first federal minimum wage law.

Before federal minimum wage laws were instituted in the 1930s, the black unemployment rate was slightly lower than the white unemployment rate in 1930. But then followed the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931, the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) of 1933 and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 – all of which imposed government-mandated minimum wages, either on a particular sector or more broadly...

...By 1954, black unemployment rates were double those of whites and have continued to be at that level or higher. Those particularly hard hit by the resulting unemployment have been black teenage males.

https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/thomas-sowell-on-the-differential-impact-of-the-minimum-wage/

[FrozenAssets]

A similar deal just passed in the People’s Republic of Alaska. This is what you get when 39% of employed persons work directly for the government at some level, 23% of employed persons live outside the state, and many of the rest work for a government contractor.

[FrozenAssets]

“The powerful Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, restaurant and grocers associations say the law violates a state constitutional requirement that ballot measures only address one issue because it included the minimum wage increase and paid sick leave.”

The same thing happened here in what used to be Alaska. Our constitution requires that a ballot question cover one narrow subject. Both ranked choice voting and the minimum wage questions covered more than one subject. Ranked choice was originally thrown off the ballot by the state AG on those grounds the first time 4 years ago but a communist judge reinstated it.

[ridesthemiles]

THEN-—APPARENTLY, it should have been 2 items up for vote===separately-—NOT tied together in ONE VOTE.

SOME ONE WASN’T VERY BRIGHT.

[ridesthemiles]

OR-—IT FORCES THE BUSINESS OWNER TO DETERMINE WHO IS WORTHY OF KEEPING & THE LEAST USEFUL EMPLOYEE GETS LAID OFF...

[CodeToad]

No, minimum wage does nothing like that.