PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Portland Mayor Kate Snyder said the city will not enforce a new minimum wage ordinance until 2022, delaying an emergency-pay rule from going into effect in December, as its backers had expected.
The ordinance was approved by 62% of voters and will gradually lift the city’s minimum wage from $12 to $15. It includes a provision that requires time-and-a-half pay during declared emergencies. The emergency-pay rule was widely expected to begin in December, 30 days after the passage of the referendum, because of the ongoing statewide emergency caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Portland Press Herald.
But city officials met with an attorney and decided to enforce the ordinance “under the plain language, which indicates it will take place in January 2022,” Snyder said Tuesday, the Press Herald reported.
Wages could rise for as many as 23,500 Portland workers because of the ordinance, according to the Maine Center for Economic Policy, a left-leaning research and advocacy group.
People First Portland, the organization that backed the measure, dismissed the mayor’s announcement. A volunteer with People First Portland, Leo Hilton, said that they will continue to tell workers that they should begin receiving hazard pay.
“The language of the ordinance and the will of the people are clear,” Hilton said in a written statement. “Over 25,000 Portland residents voted for an increased minimum wage with hazard pay of $18 an hour going into effect on December 3rd. Nothing has changed with the council’s declaration tonight.”
An attorney who advised People First Portland, Benjamin Gaines, wrote to City Council that the intention was for the provision to take effect in December and that any attempt to delay implementation until 2022 would be “absurd or illogical.”
“People First Portland is not aware of any public account of the measure indicating that it would have the effect of temporarily repealing the city’s minimum wage until 2022,” he said. “Given the overwhelming consistency of statements both for and against the measure’s passing, no court would be likely to support such a reading. The city should, therefore, take appropriate steps to effectuate the will of its people.”
Business owners emailed city councilors Tuesday warning that some are already struggling to stay afloat and could be forced to make tough decisions if the emergency wage starts next month.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.