California officials plan to seek a further increase to the state’s controversial $20 minimum wage for fast-food workers, even as they blame a new law that has led to higher menu prices and restaurant closures since it went into effect in April.
Members of the California Food Council, which successfully lobbied for the wage increase, plan to ask for another 3.5% raise when they meet later this month, according to Restaurant Business.
The council was created by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, who signed into law AB 1228, a bill that requires quick-service restaurants with at least 60 locations nationwide to pay their employees a minimum wage of $20 an hour, up from $16 an hour.
California fast-food workers could see another minimum wage hike in January. AP
The California Fast Food Workers Union, affiliated with the Service Employers International Union (SEIU), holds four of the nine seats on the Fast Food Council.
The remaining four seats are held by lawyers and franchise owners of some of the state’s most popular chains, including El Pollo Loco, Taco Bell, Arby’s, Wendy’s and Krispy Kreme.
The deciding swing vote in the matter is Council Chairman Nicholas Hardeman, chief of staff to California Senate President pro tempore Toni G. Atkins.
Atkins, a Democrat from the San Diego area, is running for governor in 2026 to succeed Newsom, who is term-limited.
The Post has reached out to Hardeman for comment.
Half a million fast-food workers received a 25% minimum wage increase that went into effect in April. Getty Images
The union already announced in March that it intends to seek an additional 3.5% increase that would raise the minimum wage to $20.70 an hour, which, if adopted, would take effect on January 1.
The union also plans to push for further reforms, such as limits on when fast-food workers can be fired and minimum working hours that employers must offer to employees.
If Congress approves the pay increase, it would expand the number of managerial employees eligible to receive more than double their overtime pay.
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law a $20 hourly minimum wage last year. Juliana Yamada/Pool/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
By law, salaried workers in California are entitled to overtime pay if their salary is less than twice the minimum hourly wage in their field.
So if further wage increases go into effect, fast-food salaried workers earning less than $87,000 a year would be entitled to overtime pay.
Fast-food giants McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Chipotle, Starbucks and Taco Bell have raised menu prices by up to 8% in preparation for new minimum wage laws that go into effect on April 1, according to a report released earlier this year by Kalinowski Equity Research.
Franchises including Rubio’s Coastal Grill and Foster’s Freeze have been forced to close locations in California, citing rising business costs.
