Employers Cope with the Implementation of California’s $20 Fast Food Minimum Wage.

California’s mandatory $20 minimum wage for fast food workers is already changing the way fast food chains operate. Business owners could have predicted the immediate outcome of California’s infamous $20 fast food minimum wage: rapidly rising prices of fast food and the mass layoff of fast food workers was no surprise. The fallout in the California fast food industry has begun and we are only seeing inklings of the fast food industry’s future. For fast food restaurants and their owners, the simultaneous increase in the 1) worker’s hourly rate, 2) manager’s salary, 3) price of menu items, and 4) price in groceries can be a difficult (if not fatal) balancing act.

California Implements Last Minute Exemptions to the $20 Fast Food Minimum Wage.

After some confusion regarding the new $20 fast food minimum wage law, California created some last minute exemptions to help clarify which restaurants are required to pay the new minimum wage. However, the last minute exemptions are narrowly tailored, and the new minimum wage likely applies to most fast food restaurants in California. On a practical level, these narrow exemptions will likely have little impact on the cost of labor for employers. For example, if workers are doing the same jobs at both an airport McDonald’s and a stand-alone McDonald’s, there is little incentive for the workers to continue to work at the airport for less pay. Clearly, a pay increase will likely occur across all facets of the fast food industry.

California’s $20 Fast Food Minimum Wage is in Effect NOW and Applies Broadly to Most Fast Food Chains.

Most people are aware of California’s new $20 fast food minimum wage, but some are uncertain whether or not the minimum wage increase applies to their particular restaurant or shop- especially in light of the last minute exemptions signed into law. The phrases “fast food restaurant employee,’ “limited-service restaurant,” and “establishment” are defined in the new law. It is important to be certain whether or not your restaurant is required to pay broadly reaching $20 minimum wage or if you may fall into an exemption, which is discussed in a later blog.

California Fast Food Employers Fight Back: Implementation of California’s “First of Its Kind” FAST Recovery Act is Temporarily Suspended.

California restaurant owners are fighting back in court and challenging California’s new and unique Fast Recovery Act. The new law, which gives a supervisory board unlimited unilateral control over the relationship between the franchise owners and the franchise owners employees, has been suspended by a Sacramento judge.

California’s FAST Recovery Act Ties the Employers’ Hands During Termination: Employees enjoy broad protection against Employer Action (Part IV).

The FAST Recovery Act gives franchise employees broad protection and more ammunition in discrimination and wrongful termination lawsuits against employers. Employers have their hands tied and are specifically prohibited from taking adverse action against employees who are engaged in “protected activity.”

California's New FAST Recovery Act Hurts More Than It Helps: Replacing Workers and Raising Food Prices (Part III).

The FAST Recovery Act negatively affects fast food employees, their families, and all consumers as a whole. In fact, the new law will likely hasten the replacement of the very employees it purports to protect as employers implement more automated procedures to cut costs. In addition, the new law will likely result in the rise of fast food prices, negatively affecting all consumers- especially those consumers who rely on the low fast food prices.

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