California has exhibited an ongoing willingness for many years to increase the state minimum wage despite the obvious ripple effects and economic impact on goods, services and job opportunities. In fact, Governor Newson has backed numerous minimum wage increases, including special industry-wide increases in the restaurant and health care industries that assuredly would lead to increased costs for consumers and, in many cases, layoffs and business closures. Numerous cities and counties have also bowed to the political goals of organized labor representatives and some segments of the population to increase the minimum wage rates through local measures adopted by cities and counties.
The appetite for minimum wage hikes and their consequences appears to have run into some logical limitations. Finally, California voters pushed back in November by narrowly defeating the proposed state minimum wage increase contained in Proposition 32, a ballot measure that would have increased the state minimum wage from $16 to $17 an hour immediately and to $18 an hour as of January 1, 2025. California already has one of the highest minimum wages in the country at $16 an hour. That is more than twice the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. Opponents of the proposition raised concerns that businesses would pass on the extra wage costs to customers by raising prices and would also reduce employees’ hours, seek to eliminate jobs through automation, and layoff employees. For the first time in years, California voters appeared to have gotten the message at a time when inflation, costs of living, and the economy are in plain view for all to observe.
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About The Author
Richard J. Simmons is a Partner in the law firm of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP in Los Angeles. He represents employers in various employment law matters involving litigation throughout the country and general advice regarding state and federal wage and hour laws, employment discrimination, wrongful discharge, employee discipline and termination, employee benefits, affirmative action, union representation proceedings, and arbitrations. Mr. Simmons received his B.A., summa cum laude, from the University of Massachusetts, where he was a Commonwealth Scholar and graduated in the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. He received his J.D. from Berkeley Law at the University of California at Berkeley where he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Industrial Relations Law Journal, now the Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law.
Mr. Simmons argued the only case before the California Supreme Court that produced a victory for employers and business in 2018. He was recently recognized as the Labor and Employment Attorney of the Year by the Los Angeles Business Journal and was inducted into the Employment Lawyers Hall of Fame. He has lectured nationally on wage and hour, employment discrimination, wrongful termination, and other employment and labor relations matters. He is a member of the National Advisory Board to the Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law, published by Berkeley Law at the University of California at Berkeley. He was also appointed by the California Industrial Welfare Commission as a member of three Minimum Wage Boards for the State of California.