SEATTLE (Legal Newsline) – A Seattle federal judge has thrown out the challenge of a city ordinance that gives grocery store workers $4-an-hour raises during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Judge John Coughenour on March 18 threw out the case filed by the Northwest Grocery Association, which complained the hazard pay order was unconstitutional because it is preempted by federal law regulating collective bargaining and unfair labor practices.
Coughenour did not buy the argument that the ordinance was preempted by the National Labor Relations Act. The NGA is appealing.
“(T)he Supreme Court has held the NLRA does not preempt ‘minimum labor standards’ which do not affect the process of collective bargaining but rather set the minimum terms that form the backdrop of their bargaining processes,” Coughenour wrote.
“The mere fact that a state law affects – and in effect, grants to employees – something for which they otherwise could have bargained does not give rise to NLRA preemption.”
The case is one of several filed in federal courts that challenge local ordinances. Seattle says it is a valid exercise of its police powers, which allow regulation of working conditions in the city.
“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 city’s motion to dismiss argued.