JEFFERSON CIRCUIT COURT DIVISION NINE JUDGE JUDITH E. McCDONALD-BURKMAN CASE NO. 15-CI-754 KENTUCKY RESTAURANT PLAINTIFFS ASSOCIATION, INC., et al. ve ORDER LOUISVILLE/JEFFERSON COUNTY METRO DEFENDANT GOVERNMENT This matter comes before the Court on Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings filed by Plaintiffs Kentucky Restaurant Association, Inc. ("KRA"), Kentucky Retail Federation, Inc. ("KRF"), and Packaging Unlimited, LLC (‘Packaging Unlimited”) (collectively, “Plaintiffs"). Defendant Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government ("Metro Government’) has responded and filed a cross-motion for Judgment on the Pleadings. A hearing was held June 10, 2015 and the matters are now submitted. On January 2, 2015, Mayor Greg Fischer approved Ordinance 0-470-14 (“the Ordinance”), which is to become effective July 1, 2015. The relevant approved language of the Ordinance reads: Every Employer within the jurisdictional boundaries of Louisville Metro shall pay to each of its Employees wages at a rate of not less than $7.75 per hour beginning on July 1, 2015, $8.25 per hour beginning on July 1, 2016, and $9.00 per hour beginning on July 1, 2017 Plaintiffs allege the Ordinance conflicts with Kentucky's minimum wage of $7.25 per hour set by KRS 337.275(1), and is therefore null and void, IKRS 337.275(1) adopts the federal minimum wage statute as part of the wage and hour laws chapter: Except as may otherwise be provided by this chapter, every employer shall pay to each of his employees wages at a rate of not less than five dollars and eighty-five cents ($5.85) an hour beginning on June 26, 2007, not less than six dollars and fifty-five cents ($6.55) an hour beginning July 1, 2008, and not less than seven dollars and twenty-five cents ($7.25) an hour beginning July 1, 2009. If the federal minimum hourly wage as prescribed by 29 US.C. sec. 206(a)(1) is increased in excess of the minimum hourly wage in effect under this subsection, the minimum hourly wage under this subsection shall be increased to the same amount, effective on the same date as the federal minimum hourly wage rate. If the state minimum hourly wage is increased to the federal minimum hourly wage, it shall include only the federal minimum hourly rate prescribed in 29 US. sec. 206(a)(1) and shall not include other wage rates or conditions, exclusions, or exceptions to the federal minimum hourly wage rate. In addition, the increase to the federal minimum hourly wage rate does not extend or modify the scope or coverage of the minimum wage rate required under this chapter. This statute establishes a floor for wages; employers may voluntarily pay more, but not less than the stated minimum wage. The Federal Fair Labor Standards Act, which sets forth the federal minimum wage, anticipates state and/or local governments adopting higher minimum wages. 29 USC. § 218(a). KRS 337.275 does not contain express language authorizing a local government to increase the minimum wage within that jurisdiction. Neither is there express language reserving the wage and labor laws exclusively to the General Assembly. “When the legislature seeks to expressly preempt entire fields of local regulation and ordinance, it does so by clear and unmistakable language." Lexington Fayette County Food & Beverage Association v. Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, 131 S.W.3d 745, 752 (Ky.2004), Such preemptive language is absent in KRS 337.275.Louisville Metro is a consolidated local government per KRS 67C.101, with “all the powers and privileges that cities of the first class and their counties are, or may hereafter be, authorized to exercise under the Constitution and the general laws of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, including but not limited to those powers granted to cities of the first class and their counties under their respective home rule powers.” KRS 67C.101(2)(a). The General Assembly granted cities of the first class such as Louisville broad authority to govern itself, finding conditions in such cities to be “sufficiently different from those found in other cities to necessitate this grant of authority and complete home rule,” which is to be construed broadly. KRS 83.410 (emphasis added). Those “sufficiently different” conditions include economic factors such as cost of living and economic development and viability The Ordinance is not in conflict with KRS 337.275. It does not seek to set a minimum wage lower than that stated in KRS 337.275, nor does it seek to change any other provision of the wage and labor laws adopted by the General Assembly. Plaintiffs’ argument that it will be too burdensome to comply with the Ordinance when the rest of the state is at a different wage rate is without merit. It is no different than an employer's duty to withhold occupational taxes for its employees, rates which vary from county to county in Kentucky. An employee may work in different counties as part of his or her employment, and the employer must calculate the wages earned in each county to determine the appropriate occupational tax withholding, Additionally, what is legal in one county may be illegal in another, such as indoor smoking andalcohol and fireworks sales. A business owner must comply with the laws and ordinances in the various locales in which it chooses to operate, even if variances exist. Therefore, after a careful review of the record, applicable law and the Court being otherwise sufficiently advised, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED AND ADJUDGED THAT Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings and injunctive Relief filed by Plaintiffs Kentucky Restaurant Association, Inc, Kentucky Retail Federation, Inc, and Packaging Unlimited, LLC is DENIED. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED AND ADJUDGED THAT Defendant Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government's Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings iS GRANTED. Louisville Metro Government's Minimum Wage Ordinance is hereby deemed lawful and enforceable. This is a final and appealable order there being no just cause for delay. DITH E. McCDONALD-BURKMAN, JUDGE. JEFFERSON CIRCUIT COURT DATE: 6 ma 7 ea Distribution to: Hon. Mike O'Connell, Jefferson County Attorney Hon, Sarah J. Martin, Asst. Jefferson County Attorney Hon. Brent R, Baughman Hon. Aleksandr Litvinow