Workers to see pay reduced back to $7.70 per hour this August after state bill trumps city ordinance.
St. Louis workers are set to see their wages rolled back after Missouri Governor Eric Greitens announced that he did not plan to fight Missouri state bill HB 1194, in which the state nullified the city’s $10 minimum wage ordinance, which was set to increase to $11 in January, the National Law Review reported.
According to the National Law Review, under the new Missouri law, cities in Missouri are prohibited from enacting a minimum wage rate for private sector workplaces, which exceeds the minimum wage rate set by the state (currently $7.70 per hour) or enacting employment benefits for private sector workplaces that exceed “state laws, rules or regulations.”
A provision of HB 1194 allows public employers to set a minimum wage for their own employees.
Under Missouri law, the governor had three choices: (1) sign the bill; (2) veto the bill; or (3) allow it to become law without his signature. The governor chose option three.
The law will go into effect on Aug. 28.
The $10 minimum wage had gone into effect in St. Louis on May 5, 2017. Private sector employers doing business is the city of St. Louis may now, effective Aug. 28, 2017, roll wages back to their pre-May 5, 2017 levels. Employers that do so must give affected employees at least 30 days’ notice (preferably in writing) of such rollback.