Seattle Approves $15 Minimum Wage

Rate will be highest in nation, but franchise organizations threaten lawsuit.

June 04, 2014

SEATTLE – Earlier this week, Seattle's City Council unanimously approved an increase in the city's minimum wage to $15 an hour, making it the nation's highest by far.

“No city or state has gone this far. We go into uncharted territory,” Seattle City Council member Sally Clark said in a Seattle Times article.

The new wage represents a 61% increase over what is already the country’s highest state minimum wage: $9.32 an hour.

The increase to $15 in Seattle will take place over several years based on a scale that considers the size of and benefits offered by an employer. It will apply first to many large businesses in 2017 and then to all businesses by 2021. Within minutes of the vote, the International Franchise Association, representing national franchises, announced plans to sue over the law’s treatment of them as large businesses.

The first increase, on April 1, 2015, brings the minimum wage to $10 for some businesses and $11 for others.

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