2021 Living Wages Bills
federal Raise the wage act
GBC Position: SUPPORT
The Federal Raise the Wage Act would increase the federal minimum wage incrementally to $15 by 2025 and phase out the tipped wage credit by 2027. Youth and disability subminimum wages would also be phased out by 2027.
A raise in the minimum wage benefits small businesses through increases in worker productivity and consumer spending as well as reductions in absenteeism and employee turnover. These benefits offset the additional payroll costs needed to lift families out of poverty, particularly those headed by women and people of color working fulltime in low wage jobs. The food service industry especially needs systemic change to address its unique inequities. Wage inequity between servers and kitchen workers which often correlates to racial inequality, job instability, food insecurity, and sexual harassment all follow from the current compensation model.
Legislation to raise the minimum wage should include support for small businesses to make this transition into more equitable models.
sb21-039 Elimination Of Subminimum Wage Employment
GBC Position: SUPPORT
This bill would phase out subminimum wage employment for employees whose earning capacity is impaired by age, physical or mental disability, or injury. Employers with special certificates to hire such individuals at a subminimum wage would have to submit a plan to the Colorado department of labor and employment detailing how they would transition employees to at least the full minimum wage. The employment first advisory partnership in the Colorado department of labor would make recommendations to the state legislature on how to support employers in making this transition. The partnership is currently scheduled to end on July 1, 2021, but the bill would extend it indefinitely.