A Sacramento County Superior Court judge has put a temporary hold on a new California law boosting protections for fast-food workers that was set to go into effect Jan. 1.
The order comes in response to a lawsuit filed Thursday by a coalition of major restaurant and business trade groups that is backing an effort to overturn the law, called AB 257, through a referendum on the California ballot in November 2024. If the referendum qualifies for the ballot, it would block AB 257 until voters have a say.
The coalition, called Save Local Restaurants, took issue with the state Department of Industrial Relations’ effort to implement AB 257 on Jan. 1, arguing that because the referendum effort is well underway, it renders the law unenforceable. Implementing the law could set a harmful precedent that threatens voters’ right of referendum, the coalition said.
A spokesperson with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office had said Thursday that the law would be put into effect while election authorities completed the process of verifying voter signatures necessary to qualify the referendum. However, state officials “will, of course, abide by any court order,” Erin Mellon, the spokesperson, had said in email.
Also known as the FAST Recovery Act, AB 257 would, among other things, create a worker representative body with the power to raise wages.
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