Has the Movement to Raise the Minimum Wage Reached Its Limit?

– The Wall Street Journal 

Cities and counties from Portland, Maine, to Los Angeles have successfully passed local minimum-wage increases, but recent resistance in seemingly friendly territory suggests a momentum shift. The newly elected Baltimore mayor last month vetoed an increase of the local wage floor to $15 an hour by 2022, despite favoring the policy as a candidate.

 

San Diego’s New Minimum Wage Already May Be Killing Jobs

– San Diego Union Tribune 

Evidence has emerged of an economic dark side to San Diego’s decision last year to vault over the state minimum wage – it may have already destroyed thousands of jobs for low-wage workers even as higher pay helps tens of thousands of others. Amid an abrupt slowdown in growth, nearly 4,000 food-service jobs may have been cut or not created throughout San Diego County from the beginning of 2016 through February of this year, according to an analysis of federal payroll data.

 

Startups in The Gig Economy Will Go to Great Lengths to Avoid Calling Their Employees Employees

– Quartz

Sharing Economy companies like Uber and Postmates say their workers are self-employed, independent contractors rather than full-time employees. With the extra flexibility also comes a lack of benefits and job security that most workers demand from large corporations, even though they are often treated like regular staff. A leaked document outlining vocabulary guidelines from Deliveroo, a UK-based delivery service, reveals just how far companies in the shared economy go try to limit their relationship with – and responsibilities towards – their own workers.

 

Multistate Taxation, Paid Leave Among Key Payroll Concerns

– Bloomberg BNA

Tracking employee travel across state lines to guard against an increase in income tax audits in some states is a top-of-mind concern for payroll professionals, members of Bloomberg BNA’s Payroll Library advisory board said March 29. Among other topics, they noted that the changing landscape of paid-leave requirements may prove challenging to payroll professionals, especially when an employer already has paid-leave policies in place.