XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: smj@splc.info   
      
   Seattle was sued by a group representing franchise businesses   
   over its $15-an-hour minimum wage, the highest of any big U.S.   
   city, approved last month.   
      
   The International Franchise Association said the ordinance   
   raising the city’s minimum wage should be blocked from taking   
   effect because it violates federal and state commerce laws,   
   according to a complaint filed today in federal court in Seattle.   
      
   The minimum wage “unfairly and irrationally discriminates” in   
   particular against small, independently owned franchise   
   businesses by treating them as “large employers” no matter how   
   few workers they employ, according to the complaint.   
      
   “It’s our position that the ordinance is constitutional and we   
   intend to vigorously defend the city against the lawsuit,” John   
   Schochet, a spokesman for the Seattle City Attorney’s Office,   
   said in an e-mail.   
      
   Seattle’s city council last month voted to raise the hourly   
   minimum wage to $15, more than double the federal minimum of   
   $7.25.   
      
   The increase is scheduled to be phased in starting next year,   
   when the required hourly minimum jumps to $11 for large   
   employers, then escalates to $15 for all businesses by 2021.   
      
   The case is International Franchise Association v. City of   
   Seattle, 14-cv-00848, U.S. District Court, Western District of   
   Washington (Seattle).   
      
   To contact the reporter on this story: Joel Rosenblatt in San   
   Francisco at jrosenblatt@bloomberg.net   
      
   http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-12/seattle-sued-by-trade-   
   group-over-15-an-hour-minimum-wage.html   
      
       
      
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