Transitional job programs that help people who face challenges finding work would be exempted from the city’s recently adopted $15 minimum wage plan under an amendment backed Tuesday by the Los Angeles City Council.
The council instructed the city attorneys to draft the exemption, which would apply to nonprofits that operate programs aimed at ex-offenders, the homeless, at-risk youth or others who typically face obstacles in finding jobs.
Instead of paying the city minimum wage, workers taking part in such programs would be paid the state minimum wage, for the first 18 months. The state minimum wage is $9 and set to rise to $10 on Jan. 1, 2016
The exemption is being pushed by Chrysalis, the Los Angeles Conservation Corps and Homeboy Industries, three nonprofit organizations that run transitional programs. Their representatives, including several workers taking part in the transitional job programs, say the exemption is needed to avoid reductions in the number of people the programs can serve.
The labor union Service Employees International Union, Local 721, also supports the exemption. The proposed amendment is one of several ideas being considered for the minimum wage law. The council’s Economic Development Committee is expected to meet over the next several months to consider a possible paid sick leave that goes above the three days mandated by the state, and a proposed exemption for employers who have union contracts with their workers.
Under the $15 minimum wage law signed into law by Mayor Eric Garcetti earlier this month, the first increase to $10.50 will go into effect on July 1, 2016, for businesses with 26 or more employees. The wage will eventually reach $15 by 2020 for larger businesses, and by 2021 for businesses with 25 or fewer workers.
