$15 Minimum Wage Seattle: Challenged By Federal Lawsuit Filed By Seattle Franchise Businesses Group

$15 minimum wage Seattle is being sued by a group of Seattle franchise businesses. A federal lawsuit has reportedly been filed against $15 minimum wage Seattle by the franchise businesses group to ultimately end their deemed unjust salary.

The group which filed the lawsuit on the $15 minimum wage Seattle is Five Puget Sound. According to the Los Angeles Times, the group is composed of business owners. Based in Washington, D.C., the trade group reportedly filed the suit against $15 minimum wage Seattle in federal court Wednesday. The suit aims to stop the city from beginning a $15-an-hour minimum wage on its employees. The $15 minimum wage Seattle would allegedly be the highest wage per hour in the U.S. soon as it comes into effect.

Five Puget Sound, a group composed of five local franchises, together with International Franchise Assn., has filed the $15 minimum wage Seattle suit on Wednesday. Their argument: the new $15 minimum wage Seattle is a discrimination against the owners of franchised businesses since it treats them like national corporations instead of the small businesses that they are.

The ordinance on the new $15 minimum wage Seattle was passed unanimously by the Seattle City Council on June 2 and signed into law by Mayor Ed Murray a day later, reports Oregon Live. Despite the law seeming to be for the benefit of workers, small businesses are against it as the $15 minimum wage Seattle reportedly violates the U.S. and Washington state Constitutions, says the federal lawsuit. The suit also says that along with breaking federal statutes and state law, and the new $15 minimum wage Seattle could put in jeopardy some small franchisees.

The law on the $15 minimum wage Seattle is scheduled to take effect on April. The law states that businesses with more than 500 employees are required to pay higher wages sooner than those with fewer ones.

Under the new $15 minimum wage Seattle law, it is stated that "a non-franchise business that has 500 employees is treated as a 'small' employer whereas a small franchisee with only five employees is treated as a 'large' employer if, as is usually the case, the franchisee is part of a network that employs more than 500 workers."

Because of this imposition, the federal lawsuit filed by the group of small businesses in the city aims to change the $15 minimum wage Seattle law decision. The lawsuit says, "As a result, until as late as 2025, the Ordinance will impose significantly higher labor costs on small franchisees than on their non-franchised competitors. During that period, small franchisees are placed at an unfair competitive disadvantage."

Meanwhile, Murray defended the new $15 minimum wage Seattle soon to be law stating that it started when fast-food workers walked off the job and began holding protests.

$15 minimum wage Seattle lawsuit was filed by the organization a day after San Francisco officials announced that a $15-an-hour minimum wage will be on the November ballot in their city.