Enforcing $15 wage: Job unfilled a week before law goes into effect

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In November, the Seattle City Council looked ahead to the new minimum wage law and approved the creation of an Office of Labor Standards within Seattle’s Office of Civil Rights. The office is generally tasked with ensuring fair working conditions, safety and general labor standards, but its establishment was with a specific eye toward enforcing Seattle’s minimum wage ordinance, set to begin taking effect on April 1.

With less than a week until the minimum wage goes up to $11 an hour at the largest companies, however, the office does not have a director…

Read the full article at Crosscut.com.

Minimum Wage Increase Killing Seattle Restaurants? Anatomy Of A Lie From Inside The Bubble

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It all began with a story published earlier this month in a local, Seattle lifestyle magazine, complete with a headline designed to tweak the interest of the reader while bearing little relationship to the facts of the actual printed story it heralds.

It was a story that chronicled the coming closure of four popular restaurants in the city of Seattle—a city that will soon experience a substantial rise in the minimum wage paid to restaurant workers…

Read the story at Forbes.com

What will $15 really mean? UW research team ready to study

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On April 1, the minimum wage for Seattle businesses employing more than 500 people will rise to $11 an hour, the first step in the city’s march toward a citywide $15 minimum wage. As to how the increase will play out, there are guesses, but the size and scope of the ordinance really put Seattle in uncharted territory…

Read the full article on Crosscut.com.