This week your government affairs team continued to engage on a proposed minimum wage Ordinance in King County. We met with Councilmember Dave Upthegrove’s office to discuss our members concerns with the proposed minimum wage ordinance. His office was understanding of our concerns and shared our concerns regarding the quick implementation timeline. We will continue to hold meetings with key coalition partners, as well as councilmember’s staff and King County Executive Dow Constantine’s team.
If this ordinance is passed:
- Employers with 500 employees or more will immediately pay higher than $18.99/hour starting Jan. 1, 2024. The way that the ordinance is currently written, inflation is on the effective date.
- Employers with 16 to 499 employees will pay $2 less than the proposed minimum wage. This $2 deduction will decrease by $1 annually on Jan. 1 each year.
- Employers with 15 or fewer employees who have an annual gross revenue of less than $2 million will pay $3 less than the proposed minimum wage. This $3 deduction will decrease by $0.50 annually on Jan. 1 each year.
This ordinance was proposed with no direct community engagement and will have impact on businesses not only in unincorporated King County but will create challenges and confusion in neighboring municipalities in King County.
We urge you to participate in public comment to share the impacts this ordinance would have on your business and ask the council to engage businesses to allow for adequate input before any further discussion takes place.
If you are interested in learning more on this issue, or giving public written or spoken comment, please contact Skylar at .
