L.A. Minimum Wage: Mayor Garcetti Signs Minimum Wage Hike To $15 Into Law
On Saturday, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti signed a law to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour by the year 2020. This new law will positively affect thousands of families in L.A. Last month, the Inquisitr reported that L.A.’s city council voted in favor to hike the minimum wage, a vote that resulted in 14-1, from $9 to $15.
Garcetti spoke of the good news in front of a crowd and stated that he is doing this in order to improve the lives of the lowest-paid workers in the city. According to Huffington Post, the increase in minimum wage will be gradual, with the first increase to $10.50 in July 2016, followed by yearly increases to $12, $13.25, $14.25, until it reaches $15 by 2020. This schedule, however, will not be applicable to non-profit organizations and small businesses, but they will follow the increase a year later. Other businesses, with at least 25 employees, must follow the new minimum wage law.
Mayor Garcetti said, “too many Angelenos have been left behind even as we’ve put the recession in the rearview mirror.” He added that the newly-signed law is “a major victory” for the city.
Los Angeles City Council adopts ordinance to increase minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2020; goes to mayor – @CBSLA http://t.co/IdpfCwL5WD
— Breaking News (@BreakingNews) June 10, 2015
Raising the minimum wage is key to moving New Yorkers out of poverty. Los Angeles, you’re doing the right thing.
— Bill de Blasio (@BilldeBlasio) June 11, 2015
The Los Angeles City Council approved raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020. http://t.co/MDIPebzN3y
— Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) June 11, 2015
Hundreds of thousands of minimum-wage earners will benefit from this minimum wage hike. However, there are still those that think the increase may cause large businesses to cut down the number of employees they have to comply with the law.
Though many were happy with the news, others who are opposed to the minimum wage hike spoke out their concerns and said that the new law will not be fair to small businesses, as the hike can drive employers away from L.A. and take their businesses elsewhere. Garcetti addressed these concerns by saying that the new minimum wage law will benefit everyone, as they will not be passing it into law “if we believed this would hurt our economy,” Yahoo News reported.
In addition to the minimum wage law increasing to $15 by 2020, the law also has a clause that states the minimum wage should continue to rise based on information from the Consumer Price Index starting 2022.
A budget of $500,000 set by the legislation is also in place for the Office of Labor Standards, a body that will be responsible for investigating whether businesses all over L.A. are following the minimum wage standards and paying their employees a fair amount of money.
L.A. City Council President, Herb Wesson, also said that the minimum wage increase can affect other cities.
“The winds of this country blow from West to East. Don’t believe people across the country are not watching this.”
[Photo by Araya Diaz/Getty Images for Barnsdall Art Park Foundation]
