Unexpected and unbudgeted projects are the bane of any well managed city. However, the demands of a vibrant democracy require nimble management to successfully execute the demands on policymakers. An excellent illustration is the current trend in progressive localities to regulate minimum wages.
The City of Richmond (population 104,000) is poised to mandate the highest minimum wage law in the state. Months of wrangling by the City Council yielded a law that will bring a $13 minimum by 2018, and will be linked to inflation thereafter. The law contains exemptions opposed by labor leaders, and provisions opposed by businesses. Even Mayor Gayle McLaughlin is unhappy with the result, saying the exemptions will create unfairness and confusion.
The law is a product of a scramble by city staff to analyze the impact of the law on the local economy in a very short time. The results were predictable with positive benefits foreseen for workers and conflicting outlooks for employers. In the end, city leaders were caught between the pressures of activist labor organizations and the economic clout of business.
The result is a law that no one is happy with, and one that is likely to be unwieldy to enforce. In fact, enforcement seems to be a general problem with local minimum wage laws.
San Francisco (population 837,000) is one of the pioneers of the concept of locally mandated minimum wages. In response to the voter’s wishes, the City established the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement. In the nearly 11 years since voters passed the labor reform, the law is enforced by complaint. Unable to pursue abuses directly, the Office relies on community groups to produce educational workshops to inform workers most at risk for abuse about the protections available to them and also to provide tips on violations. For a fuller discussion of San Francisco’s wage enforcement dilemma go here.
Another locality currently considering regulating wages is Sonoma, (population 11,000). Unlike San Francisco or Richmond, Sonoma lacks even the support of an HR Department to recruit the kinds of skills needed to analyze the impact of such a law on the local economy. Obviously, establishing the human infrastructure to enforce a wage law would be a major impact on city staff.
As the trend continues to work its way through the state, more and more municipalities can expect to devote staff time to studying impacts and supporting legislation. City staffs will be asked to either study the impact in their localities or find consultants to do the heavy lifting. In either case, staff time will be diverted to support the effort. Once a law is passed, the staff must devise the means to enforce it.
All of this means big demands on limited resources. While we use the local minimum wage trend as an example, it is hardly the only unbudgeted surprise that constituencies can spring on city leaders. How do you plan for unforeseen demands in your organization? Do you include outside staffing as a safety valve?
A staffing partner can provide flexible solutions by either providing trained personnel to cover for regular staff members diverted to surprise projects, or by supplying the expertise to address the matter in question. BOLT Staffing specializes in both. The time to build that relationship is before you find your organization over-extended. Call us today and let us show you how can help you before the next big surprise lands on your desk!
This article originally ran on Californiacitynews.org