Argue In Suit Law Discriminates Against Them
On Wednesday, the International Franchise Association filed a suit in federal court against Seattle’s new law that will raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour in the coming years. The crux of the suit, which was joined by five local franchisees, is that the law discriminates against small franchisees. The law gives small businesses several years longer in order to raise wages to the $15 level. However, when defining a small business, it doesn’t consider the size of a franchisee’s operation, but rather the size of the parent company. As a result, for example, a restaurant franchise with 20 employees would be considered a large business because the whole chain has more than 500 employees. The suit seeks an injunction to prevent the new wage-law from coming into effect.
Further Reading:
The Seattle Times, the AP and the Los Angeles Times all report on the subject.