After nearly two-thirds of Missouri voters approved in November raising the state's minimum wage to $12 per hour over several years, Republican lawmakers are leading a push to make drastic changes to the new law.

Four bills filed by Republican lawmakers propose to either change the rate at which minors will be paid, exempt religious and private schools from the law or repeal it entirely. Businesses and business groups around Mid-Missouri said they were not hurt by the first increase in the minimum wage earlier this year.

State Sen. Mike Cunningham, R-Rogersville, introduced a bill in January that would make technical changes to the language in the existing law and would clarify the difference between the public minimum wage and private minimum wage. The Senate Committee on Small Business and Industry heard the original version of the bill Thursday. In the coming days, Cunningham plans to introduce a substitute version of the bill, which would allow companies to pay minors just 85 percent of the minimum wage rate.

Cunningham told the Tribune he did not read the original version of the bill, and that it was just a placeholder until the substitute version was filed. Cunningham, who is a former grocery store owner, said the new version protects jobs for youths trying to enter the workforce.

Under federal law, full-time college students working less than 20 hours per week may be paid at 85 percent of the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. High school students under age 16 may also be paid at just 75 percent of the federal minimum wage.

"What I'm trying to do is protect jobs for kids," Cunningham said. "And it's going to protect adults because then you don't have to pay adults at the same rate as a kid."

Last year Tony Wyche served as the communications manager for Raise Up Missouri, a political action committee founded by St. Louis record retailer Lew Prince that led the push to pass Proposition B. Unlike Cunningham, the bill creates a disincentive to reward adult employees, Wyche said.

"Sen. Cunningham’s legislation creates a perverse incentive for employers to discriminate against older workers by hiring people they can pay less for the same work," Wyche said in an email.

In November 62.3 percent of voters approved Missouri Proposition B, which will raise the state's minimum wage from $7.85 per hour to $12 per hour by 2023. The first of five wage hikes went into effect Jan. 1 when the Missouri Department of Labor raised the statewide minimum wage to $8.60 per hour.

Under state law, tipped employees may be paid at 50 percent of the minimum wage rate, but employers must make up the difference if employees to not earn the minimum wage rate during a shift. Cunningham's bill would prevent the minimum wage rate for tipped employees from raising higher than half the minimum wage rate on Jan. 1, 2019, or $4.30 per hour.

The tipped wages provision was inserted into the new version of the bill after Cunningham heard waitresses complain that the new minimum wage will eat away at the tips customers leave, he said.

Missouri Retailers Association President David Overfelt said that even if Cunningham's bill becomes law, employers will be required to make sure all tipped employees are paid at least $12 per hour after tips.

Other bills go farther.

Missouri House Rep. Robert Ross, R-Yukon, introduced a bill last Thursday which would repeal every part of the state's minimum wage law that voters passed in November. Ross did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

State Sen. Cindy O'Laughlin, R-Shelbina, and state Rep. Tim Remole, R-Excello, also introduced bills that exempt private and religious schools from paying employees at the new minimum wage rate. State Rep. Jon Carpenter, D-Kansas City, also introduced a bill which removes the exemption for public employees under the state's minimum wage law.

Proponents of the minimum wage increase feel the General Assembly needs to respect the will of the people.

Richard von Glahn, Missouri Jobs With Justice policy director, said in a statement that before the passage of Proposition B, full-time minimum wage employees in Missouri earned just $314 per week.

"It is out of touch for any legislator to work to overturn the will of the voters and they must go explain to the people in their district how they would live on $314 a week and why the voters were wrong to try to change that," von Glahn said in a statement.

Cunningham said he respects the will of the people, but feels that these areas need to be addressed. Raising the minimum wage kills jobs, Cunningham said. After the voters spoke though, he said he does not want the law to be repealed.

"I respect the voters' wishes, but it didn't address youth," Cunningham said.

Wyche said voters understood when voting that wages would be raised for all low-wage workers.

"Any effort to deny that raise to any worker disrespects the will of the people and fails to honor the hard work people do, regardless of age," Wyche said in an email.

Businesses and business groups around Mid-Missouri felt the minimum wage increase was having a minimal impact so far.



Pete Veros, co-owner of Tony's Pizza Palace at 17 N. 5th St., said he employs about 10 people at the restaurant. Most of his employees already made well above minimum wage before the change, Veros said.

For now, he said the change is manageable. By the time the minimum wage hits $12 per hour, the change may be harder on small businesses, Veros said.

"At that point it may become more of an issue," Veros said. "As a small business owner you're always trying to keep your labor costs under control."

Under both the federal and state minimum wage laws, businesses with revenues of less than $500,000 per year are exempt from paying employees the minimum wage. Veros declined to discuss his revenues with the Tribune.

David Maxwell, Mid-Missouri Regional Director for the Missouri Restaurant Association, said that in the tight labor market, most exempt businesses pay employees more than minimum wage. Columbia had an unemployment rate of 2.1 percent in December, according to U.S. Labor Department data.

"Like other businesses, the people who don't change jobs frequently, you're probably going to be paying more than the minimum wage," Maxwell said. "It's been that way for a long time."

pjoens@columbiatribune.com

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