OnLabor

Law. Workers. Organizing.

News & Commentary

January 18, 2022

Tala Doumani

Tala Doumani is a student at Harvard Law School.

A federal contractor minimum wage increase to $15 an hour is slated to go into effect Jan. 30. In April 2021, President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 14026 increasing the minimum pay of federal contractors. The purpose of the Order, in an announcement made by the Labor Department, is to enhance “worker productivity, generate higher-quality work by bolstering employee health, morale, and effort” as well as improve economic security of these workers and their families, many of whom are women and people of color. The Order contains provisions that require the minimum wage in future years to be indexed against inflation. Notably, the Order also eliminated the tipped minimum wage for contract employees and ensures at least $15 an hour for workers with disabilities. The increase will apply to new federal contracts as well as renewals and extensions of existing contracts. Over 320,000 federal contract employees will benefit from the new increase.

Daily News & Commentary

Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all

OnLabor In The News

Browse all

More From OnLabor

See more

Ruelas v. County of Alameda — California Pretrial Detainees Denied Minimum Wage for Corporate Labor (Part 3)

In Ruelas v. County of Alameda, the Supreme Court of California denied pretrial detainees’ state minimum wage claim, reasoning that section 4019.3 of the state’s Penal Code — capping jail laborers’ wages at two dollars per day — instead governed.  The first part of this three-part series discussed the California Supreme Court’s holding and reasoning.  The second part gave a history of California’s constitution and jail labor in the state, concluding that the two-dollar daily wage cap could not have applied to plaintiffs, who were pretrial detainees performing unpaid labor for a corporation.  

Ruelas v. County of Alameda — California Pretrial Detainees Denied Minimum Wage for Corporate Labor (Part 2)

In Ruelas v. County of Alameda, the Supreme Court of California held that pretrial detainees forced to labor for a corporation are ineligible for a minimum wage under the state’s Labor Code.  The court construed Penal Code section 4019.3 broadly, interpreting it as incompatible with California’s Labor Code. The court concluded that the Penal Code prevents pretrial detainees from earning more than two dollars per day for their labor, absent a local ordinance.  

How Three Simple Labor Laws Helped Unions Organize Amazon and UBER in Canada

In early July,  the British Columbia Labour Relations Board (BCLRB) certified UFCW-Canada as the bargaining representative for over 500 UBER drivers in the province’s capital city of Victoria.  A few days later, the BCLRB issued another decision that certified the union Unifor (formerly the Canadian Auto Workers) for a bargaining unit of hundreds of employees employed at an Amazon distribution centre […]

Ruelas v. County of Alameda — California Pretrial Detainees Denied Minimum Wage for Corporate Labor (Part 1)

Pretrial detainees in Santa Rita Jail are forced to labor for Aramark, a food-preparation company that provides meals to third parties outside of the jail. Neither Aramark nor the county pays detainees for their labor.  In 1990, California amended its constitution to allow companies to contract with prisons — facilities run by the state or federal government that detain convicted offenders — for labor, so long as prisoners were paid comparable wages to non-inmate laborers.  

Enjoy OnLabor’s fresh takes on the day’s labor news, right in your inbox.

Sections

Connect