Funviralpark A state judge on Friday put a California law that could raise the minimum wage for fast food workers on hold until a hearing decides whether it will go into effect next month.
Save Local Restaurants, a group of franchisees and restaurant business associations, filed a lawsuit against the state’s Labor Relations Bureau on Thursday, challenging its intention to implement the law on Jan. 1.
In the lawsuit, Save Local Restaurants asked the court to block states from beginning to enforce the law until the Secretary of State completes the petition’s verification process.
Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Shelleyanne WL Chang granted a temporary injunction to implement the new law, writing that the court could not have considered the issue in such a short time.
The court is scheduled to hold a hearing on the injunction on January 13th.
“While this suspension is temporary, the impact goes beyond just one piece of legislation and will keep California’s 100-year-old referendum process intact for the foreseeable future,” said Save Local. The Restaurants Coalition said in a statement.
Gavin Newsom’s spokesman Erin Mellon said the secretary of state had not proven that the industry coalition had enough signatures to qualify for the vote and unless that happened. She said it has a duty to enforce the law. But the state will comply with Friday’s court order, she said.
The California law, known as the Fast Recovery Act, is the first of its kind in the United States and has emerged as a hard fought battle between organized workers and fast food chains and operators.
Newsome, a Democrat, signed the law into law in September. A government-appointed committee of workers, employers, union representatives and business advocates, he set up a 10-person committee to set the fast food industry’s minimum wage at $22 an hour next year and introduce new workplace standards. can be established.
The established minimum wage increases annually based on inflation. The minimum wage in California is currently $15 an hour and will increase to $15.50 by 2023.
The restaurant group announced in early December that it had submitted a petition with more than one million voter signatures urging Californians to vote on a bill in 2024. Coalition supporters expected the law to be frozen if they turned in their signatures.
Write to Heather Haddon at [email protected].
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