We were just discussing the movement in the state of Tennessee to create a new Tennessee minimum wage, where at the moment there is not one to speak of. (Like Alabama, South Carolina, and a couple of other Southern states, Tennessee does not have a wage and hour or minimum wage law on the books, but instead either lets its small local employers pay the fair market value of labor, or leaves larger interstate employers to pay the federal minimum wage, care of the Fair Labor Standards Act. But we have gone over this topic so much as of late that I reckon I could repeat the info subconsciously in between my snores at night.)
Back to my point—not only does the state house in the capital at the moment have a new Tennessee minimum wage law on the books, but a county nearby Memphis, Tennessee, also has a form of pay raise law in its debate—and now in its law books.
That is right. The Shelby County Commission just passed a new law today that would set up a living wage in the county. The vote on the Shelby County Living Wage Ordinance was seven votes for, four votes against, and one vote that chose not to vote. The new Tennessee living wage bill sets up a new living wage of $10.02 per hour for employers in the county that give health benefits to their employees, and $12.01 per hour for employers that do not.
This is not for every employer in the county, however. The new Shelby County, Tennessee, living wage law only relates to those employers that are part of the county government, and those that receive service contracts through the government. The law specially excludes all small employers in the county with less than 10 employees.
