On June 29, 2022, the Los Angeles City Council (“Council”) approved an ordinance that would raise the minimum wage for people working at “covered healthcare facilities” in the city of Los Angeles (“City”) to $25 per hour.
This ordinance could have a profound impact not only on the health care workers it targets but also on private health care facilities and the quality and availability of health care services for Angelenos. Notably, because the ordinance only applies to private hospitals and clinics in the City while excluding public health care employers (like UCLA and the County of Los Angeles) and facilities outside City boundaries, it actually does not directly impact a majority of health care employers in the area. The ordinance now awaits Mayor Eric Garcetti’s signature and will likely go into effect before the end of the year.
The Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) first sponsored and pushed for the wage increase in the “Minimum Wage for Employees Working at Healthcare Facilities” initiative. Originally, SEIU-UHW’s goal was to bring the minimum wage increase to a vote of the people as part of this November’s general election. After collecting and confirming enough signatures, SEIU-UHW successfully petitioned to get it on the November ballot in Los Angeles. However, on June 21, 2022, the Council chose to adopt the ordinance instead of putting it before voters to decide the issue. Given that the first vote was not...
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