1. FINAL ASSIGNMENT MLS 516 EMPLOYMENT LAW
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FINAL ASSIGNMENT
MLS 516
TERRANCE HAWKINS
4/25/15
The minimum wage is part of The Fair Labor Standards Act of
1938 (FLSA) which currently applies to about two-thirds of

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workers in public and private sectors equally. The FLSA also has
exceptions for teen workers, waiters and waitresses,
provisional and temporary workers. “The federal minimum wage has
risen over the years. In July 2007, the minimum wage increased
from $5.15 per hour to $7.25, where it stands today. Most states
and localities have minimum-wage laws that apply, along with
federal law, to employers within their jurisdiction. In recent
years, states and localities are raising their minimum wage; as
of January 2014, 21 states and the District of Columbia had a
minimum wage that was higher than the federal one. In 11 states,
the minimum wage is adjusted automatically each year for
inflation, and in four more future increases have already been
legislated. California is scheduled to increase the minimum wage
from $8.00 to $9.00 in July 2014 and $10.00 in January 2016.”1
"[Cities ]also have minimum wages that are higher than their
state or federal minimum wage; in San Francisco, for instance,
the minimum wage is $10.74 per hour. Another 20 states have
minimum wages equal to the national minimum wage. About half of
all workers in the United States live in states where the
applicable minimum wage is more than $7.25 per hour. The
applicable minimum wage in those states ranges from $7.40 to
$9.32 per hour ."1

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Current legislation has already raised the Federal
minimum wage and will continue to increase it. “The
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE (CBO) examined an option that would
increase the federal minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $8.20
and to $10.10 after another year. This increase in the minimum
wage between 2014 and 2016 under this option would be about 40
percent, by some estimates. This is the same percentage as the
increases in the past but larger than several earlier increases.
Each year after that, the minimum wage would rise with the
Consumer Price Index(CPI). The CPI is an accurate measure of
buying power in actual dollars”2
Proposed laws are coming to
fruition. “In 2014, the Seattle City Council voted a local
minimum wage to $15 an hour over a period of several years,
while Chicago’s moderate Democratic mayor, Rahm Emanuel, a
former chief of staff to President Obama, helped win an increase
of the city’s minimum wage to $13 by 2019.”3
In the 2016 election
campaigns, “Pretty much anyone who enters the 2016 cycle not at
least talking about $12 an hour is way behind the times,” said
Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign
Committee, a grass-roots organizing group with nearly one
million members.”3
Republicans are the main detractors of raising the Federal
minimum wage, they use the several reasons for their

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opposition. Republicans reference “evidence of job losses since
the earliest imposition of the minimum wage. The initial
minimum wage in 1938 resulted unemployment rate to rise.
Recently enacted in American Samoa, the minimum wage resulted in
economic effects so pronounced that President Obama signed into
law a bill postponing them. In 2010, Joseph Sabia and Richard
Burkhauser estimated, nearly 1.3 million jobs will be lost if
the federal minimum wage [increases] to $9.50 per hour.” 4
This
argument is similar to Conservatives belief that giving tax cuts
to the rich will stimulate the economy. Increasing the minimum
wage should have the same effect. The principle is by putting
more money into the economy it will stimulant growth. The more
the majority of people have as disposable income the more the
majority of people tend to spend.
In the analysis of the minimum wage ,it needs to be a
living wage. While Chief Executive Officers (CEO's) routinely
receive 1,000,000 dollar bonuses, "wage slave" employees are
lucky to receive a 25 cent bonus.
If CEO's took part of their bonuses and gave back to their
employees, a fair living wage could be established with little
if any cost passed onto the consumer. An example is " J.
Patrick Doyle the Domino’s Pizza CEO’s pay package is $43
million over the past three years." 5
In analysis, this same

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amount of money over five years would result in the minimum
of a $2.20 increase to their part-time employees at the current
minimum wage. By some reports Domino's employees number about
100,000 people at the minimum wage. The money exists to pay
people a living wage. "The pizza chain posted revenue of $502
million,"5
for the year. A 10% raise to every minimum wage
employee over the next three years would easily bring these
employees to $12.00. The CEO can afford to take a 50% cut to
pay for this or charge 10% more for their $10.00 pizza. The
majority of people would agree that passing on $1.00 on a
below market rate product is acceptable for social justice, pay
equity and increased money in the economy. The ethics of the
FLSA is paying workers enough to make it worthwhile to work.
The alternative is workers on welfare. A function of the law is
to enact justice. It is just to enact a law the ensures equity
in pay. Many argue that cooking pizza does not require the same
education, skill and experience as does a running a large
company. How does a minimum wage worker pay for the education
needed to achieve this lofty goal? The short answer is, they can
not. Education is expensive and not a priority when you can not
pay your rent, feed your kids or put gas in your car. Everyone
will not be an industry leader, but everyone deserves the
opportunity to do so.

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References
1. The Effects of a Minimum-Wage Increase on Employment
and ...(n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/44995-
MinimumWage_OneColumn.pdf
2. The Effects of a Minimum-Wage Increase on Employment
and ..." Insert Name of Site in Italics. N.p., n.d. Web. 25

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Apr. 2015 <http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/44995-
MinimumWage_OneColumn.pdf>.)
3. (Democrats Are Rallying Around $12 Minimum Wage -
NYTimes.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/23/business/economy/democrat
s-are-rallying-around)
4. (Four Reasons Not to Raise the Minimum Wage. (n.d.).
Retrieved from
http://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/four_reasons_not_t
o_raise_the_mi)
5. Domino’s CEO under fire for exorbitant salary | New York
Post. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://nypost.com/2014/04/29/dominos-ceo-under-fire-for-
exorbitant-salary/