Minimum Wage Enforcem_Meun.jpg

In this June 2, 2014, file photo, a sign that reads "15 Good Work Seattle" is displayed below Seattle City Hall, right, and the Columbia Center building, left, after the Seattle City Council passed a $15 minimum wage measure. As states and cities gradually implement new laws to raise wages to at least $15 an hour, they are confronting a challenge experts say has long bedeviled the nation's municipalities: policing tens of thousands of businesses to obey wage laws.

(AP file photo)

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court is turning away a challenge to Seattle's $15 an hour minimum wage from franchise business owners who say the law discriminates against them.

The justices are not commenting on their order Monday that leaves in place a federal court ruling in favor of Seattle.

Five franchises and the International Franchise Association said the law treats Seattle's 623 franchises like large businesses because they are part of multistate networks. But in reality, the franchises say, they are small businesses and should have more time to phase in the higher hourly wage minimum.

Small businesses employing fewer than 500 people have seven years to phase in the $15 hourly wage, while large employers must do so over three years.

-- The Associated Press