Butler Snow attorney Sara Anne T. Quinn was recently quoted in an article by HR Daily Advisor about a proposed bill that would set a $15-an-hour federal minimum wage by 2025.
The following is an excerpt from the article:
Sara Anne T. Quinn, an attorney with Butler Snow LLP in Nashville, Tennessee, points out the bill may undergo changes as it goes through the legislative process. “It will be interesting to see how this bill takes final form, especially on the heels of the pandemic,” she says.
Many of the industries that would be most affected also are the ones hardest hit during the pandemic—industries such as travel and leisure, restaurants, service, and transportation, Quinn says.
“Those employers were already feeling pinched and having to let many workers go,” Quinn says. “I think these employers are concerned about the ability to return to ‘normal’ business while at the same time having to increase worker pay.”
Quinn says raising the federal minimum may not have much of an effect in states and localities that already have rates above the current federal minimum. “Most of those higher wages were instituted in response to the fact that the federal minimum wage is not, realistically, a very livable wage, especially in states or cities with a higher cost of living,” she says.
Employers that already have implemented a $15 minimum may be more affected, Quinn says, since their $15-an-hour employees would suddenly become minimum wage workers, “which may carry a certain stigma or make recruiting more difficult.”
“These employees will have to decide whether or not, for employee morale, recruiting, or otherwise, they want to and can afford to increase their wage floors,” Quinn says.
To read the article in its entirety, click here.