Posted on 05/14/2015 6:40:56 AM PDT by all the best
The state of Connecticut may be embarking on new territory as they seem to be pushing a rather creative way to extract revenue from for-profit businesses. The state legislature of Connecticut has proposed what’s commonly referred to as SB1044. Muddled in the labyrinth known as legal terminology, we find this gem of a sentence in the bill itself:
Any covered employer that employs, or whose franchisee employs, any employee (1) who was listed on such covered employer’s or such franchisee’s payroll for at least ninety calendar days prior to the completion of the most recent calendar quarter, and (2) whose wages paid by such covered employer, or such covered employer’s franchisee, during such quarter were less than or equal to fifteen dollars per hour, shall pay a fee to the Labor Commissioner for each such employee. Such fee shall be assessed quarterly and shall be equal to one dollar for each hour such employee worked for such covered employer during the previous quarter. Such fee shall not accrue until January 1, 2016.
“Covered employers” apparently includes for-profit businesses that include 500 or more employees, because of course the legislators don’t want to be seen as hurting small businesses. But the fact that they even created the 500-employee minimum is a de facto admission that the firms that are affected by this bill will feel at least some negative impact. The Down Side of Mandated Wages
What are these negative impacts? Obviously, the bill seeks to impose higher wages — or at least to punish employers that pay wages deemed to be too low — by raising the cost to the employer (via a state-imposed fee) of retaining an employee below the target wage of $15/hour.
(Excerpt) Read more at mises.org ...
this year it’s 500 employees, next year it’s 100 employees, then 50, then 15.............
Glad I don’t live in CT.
Hmm--so all an employer has to do is make sure that no employee already making low wages gets a raise so that they make $14/hour. Anything less than that and the company saves money, even with the fine.
during such quarter were less than or equal to fifteen dollars per...
one dollar for each hour such employee worked..
If my reading of this is correct, if you pay an employee exactly $15/hour, you then pay $1 additional to CT? THis is a "minimum wage" of $16/hour...
If it's a Democrat-controlled state, then the INTENDED consequence is to ensure that minorities stay on welfare rather than get a job.
If anyone makes the connection their excuse will be they were unintentional. “Hey, we were really trying to do good.”
It’s actually more cost effective for employers to pay that “fee” to the state than to give employees a $1.00/hour raise. The only employees who would benefit would be ones who already make more than about $14.25/hour but less than $15.00/hour. For them it would be more cost effective to increase their pay to $15.00/hour. The actual effect of this legislation would be to eliminate pay raises for people making less than about $14.25/hour.
If anyone makes the connection their excuse will be they were unintentional. “Hey, we were really trying to do good.”
The employer would have to pay at least $15.01/hour to avoid the “fee”.
Correct. This is just a way of providing more money up the welfare state, since it’ll be easier to cut a check for a $1 per hour per employee than eat the costs of raising those employees’ pay to $15 per hour.
Those costs will either be passed along to consumers, or taken out of payroll by reducing staff. Or a combination of both.
I’m aiming to get out.
I’m thinking it will be an incentive to reduce low-skill staff using automation.
” In declining states the leadership intuitively chooses the most harmful course of action.”- F. Nietzsche
The employee also does not get credit for social security or SSI or other wage based history programs
I’m only 62. I don’t recall any time when our government has done anything but.
The ones who are really going to get screwed by this law are those that are currently making $15/hr.
Do you think they are going to get a raise?
Likely they are going to have to do more work as the business pares down its workforce to stay profitable.
Unlike Government, without a profit a business goes out of business.
That’s beyond their comprehension.
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