Missouri Supreme Court Validates St. Louis Minimum Wage Ordinance

St. Louis’ minimum wage earners will soon see an increase in their pay. Our readers may recall an earlier blog post that St. Louis adopted a minimum wage ordinance (No. 70078) in 2015 that would increase the city’s minimum wage rate in a series of installments beginning October 15, 2015 and ending on January 1, 2018, for employees working within the physical boundaries of St. Louis. However, a day before the law was scheduled to go into effect a trial court ordered the City not to implement the new minimum wage ordinance. The trial court invalidated the ordinance because it believed Missouri’s Minimum Wage Law prohibited the adoption of local ordinances supplementing any state law on a subject, including minimum wage ordinances.

The Missouri Supreme Court disagreed with the trial court’s decision that invalidated St. Louis’ Ordinance. The Court found that the city of St. Louis did “not act outside its home-rule authority in enacting Ordinance 70078.” The Court found that the minimum wage ordinance was enacted pursuant to its police powers, which extended to the peace, comfort, safety, health, morality, and general welfare of its people. Furthermore, it found that the ordinance protects employers from having to pay a higher wage. The minimum wage ordinance sets a floor below which an employee cannot be paid, and simply supplements the state law by setting additional local limits on the minimum amount an employer can pay his or her employee.

Compliance Poster Company will continue to monitor the City’s new minimum wage ordinance. It is still unclear when the new minimum wage rate will be implemented. Stay tuned!