SEATTLE (Legal Newsline) – We are protecting vulnerable workers, the City of Seattle says in response to a lawsuit that challenges its requirement that grocery store employees receive $4-an-hour raises.
Seattle filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit Feb. 18, claiming plaintiffs Northwest Grocery Association and Washington Food Industry Association are trying to override the public interest in “safe and fair workplaces” during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“(T)he City of Seattle acted to support and protect grocery store employees, critical frontline workers since the start of the pandemic, who are increasingly vulnerable to COVID-19 exposure and continue to provide a crucial service to the community,” says the motion, signed by Assistant City Attorney Jeremiah Miller.
“Plaintiffs’ claims have no cognizable legal basis, whether taken in a vacuum or considered in the context of the current health crisis we all face. Plaintiffs’ claims that others should be regulated, or that a different approach should be taken to address public health, safety, and welfare are not matters to be resolved by this Court; they are quintessentially political questions that must be addressed to the legislative functions of government.”
The plaintiffs filed their lawsuit Feb. 3 in Seattle federal court over a measure passed Jan. 25 by the Seattle City Council. The suit seeks a declaration that the ordinance is unconstitutional because it is preempted by federal law regulating collective bargaining and unfair labor practices.
It also claims the ordinance violates the equal protection and contracts clauses of the U.S. and Washington constitutions.
“In particular, the (National Labor Relations Act) preempts any and all state and local enactments that, by design or consequence, regulate or interfere with the then-existing balance of economic power between labor and management with respect to zones of activity that, under federal labor law, are intended to be left to the free play of economic forces,” Adam Belzberg and Vanessa Soriano Power of Stoel Rives wrote.
“Laws subject to NLRA preemption include laws that interfere with or attempt to regulate the economic tools available to labor or management during the course of collective bargaining or that otherwise interfere with the collective bargaining process, such as those that alter the parties’ rights and economic alternatives during collective bargaining, or the processes and procedures utilized for union organizing.”
But Seattle says the ordinance is a valid exercise of its police powers, which allow regulation of working conditions in the city. It is also rationally related to proper legislative goals and does not violate equal protection guarantees.
“Providing hazard pay to grocery store employees compensates employees for their increased risk of infection, improves retention of these employees, ensures that they can better afford the resources they need to stay healthy and prevent transmission, and helps ensure continued community access to food and other essential goods,” the motion says.