Three Cities Approve Minimum Wage Ballot Resolutions

Author: Michael Cardman, XpertHR Legal Editor

Voters in Albuquerque, NM, and San Jose, CA, yesterday approved ballot resolutions that will raise the minimum wage for hourly workers. Voters in Long Beach, CA, also approved a ballot resolution that will establish a new minimum wage for hotel workers.

The Albuquerque resolution amends the city's minimum wage ordinance to increase the minimum wage from $7.50 to $8.50, starting January 1, 2013. Tipped employees will need to be paid 45 percent of the minimum wage ($3.83) from January 1, 2013, through January 1, 2014, and 60 percent of the minimum wage thereafter. The city's minimum wage will be adjusted for inflation annually.

The San Jose resolution amends the city's municipal code to raise the minimum wage from $8.00 to $10.00. Starting on January 1, 2014, San Jose's minimum wage will be adjusted for inflation once a year.

The Long Beach resolution establishes a minimum wage of $13.00 an hour for employees of large hotels with 100 or more rooms. The new minimum wage will be increased annually by a) the amount of increase in the federal minimum wage over the amount in effect on December 31, 2011, b) the rate of inflation or c) 2 percent, whichever is greater. The ballot resolution also requires hotel employees to receive at least five days of paid sick leave each year.

The three cities join San Francisco, Washington, DC and Santa Fe, NM, which already have local minimum wages.