Paul DeCamp, Member of the Firm in the Employment, Labor & Workforce Management practice, in the firm’s Washington, DC, office, was quoted in Law360, in “Federal Minimum Wage Hits 15 Years Without Movement,” by Max Kutner. (Read the full version – subscription required.)

Following is an excerpt:

The federal minimum wage hasn't budged in 15 years, despite efforts from both Democrats and Republicans to raise it, and as statewide and local wage floors have far exceeded the national rate. …

"The lack of legislative action on the federal minimum wage is an indication that both sides in the discussion would rather stand their ground than agree on some point in the middle," said Paul DeCamp of management-side firm Epstein Becker Green. DeCamp led the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division at the time Congress passed the 2007 legislation.

Here, Law360 explores the federal floor. …

In the current Congress, the Democratic-backed Raise the Wage Act calls for an increase to $17 an hour over five years, while the Republicans' Higher Wages for American Workers Act proposes an $11 hourly floor over four years, with immigration verification. Those bills have not advanced through committee.

"We've seen a lack of willingness to compromise somewhere in between those two levels," Epstein Becker's DeCamp said.

States, Cities Take Lead

Despite, or perhaps because of, the lack of federal movement, state legislatures, municipal governments and voters have raised wage floors closer to home.

In 2009, 13 states and the District of Columbia had rates above the national amount. Now, 30 states and D.C. do, and many cities do as well.

"What we've seen in the last 15 years is the states stepping in and setting minimum wage rates calibrated to their local circumstances," DeCamp said.

"As a matter of just common sense, it does make sense for local legislatures at the state level or even at the municipal level to establish wage levels that more precisely fit the circumstances of the employment relationships and the economies in those localities," he said. …

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