ORDINANCE NO. 170193
Enacting a new Article IV,
Chapter 38, Code of Ordinances, entitled “Minimum Wage” to establish a
municipal minimum wage of $8.50 per hour on September 18, 2017, to increase
that municipal minimum wage to $13.00 per hour by January 1, 2023, to be
increased or decreased by the cost of living January 1, 2024 and each year
thereafter; and recognizing this ordinance as having an accelerated effective
date.
BE
IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KANSAS CITY:
Section 1. ENACTMENT
OF THE MUNICIPAL MINIMUM WAGE. That a new Article IV, Chapter 38, Code of
Ordinances, entitled "Minimum Wage," is enacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE IV. CITY
MINIMUM WAGE
Sec. 38-201. Definitions.
(a) "Apprentice"
means a person bound to serve another for a specified time in order to learn
some art, trade, profession, or business;
(b) “Employ” means to
suffer or permit to work;
(c) “Employee” means
any individual employed by an Employer who performs at least 20 hours of work
within a calendar year for an Employer whether on a part-time, full-time or
temporary basis, and shall include contingent and contracted workers and
individuals working through a temporary service, staffing or employment agency
or similar entity. However, the term “Employee” shall not include:
(1)
An individual employed by the United States, the State of Missouri or
any political subdivision of the State other than by the City of Kansas City,
Missouri;
(2)
An individual engaged in the activities of an educational, charitable,
religious or nonprofit organization where the employer-employee relationship
does not, in fact, exist or where the services rendered to such organizations
are on a voluntary basis;
(3)
Apprentices in a registered apprentice program recognized by the State
of Missouri or the Federal Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training, as well as
any apprentice participating in an apprenticeship program providing significant
instructional and practical experience and offered by the City of Kansas City,
Missouri;
(4)
Temporary employees of an educational, charitable or religious youth
camp or retreat where room and board are provided to the employee, or if a day
camp, where board only is provided. To qualify under this exemption the
employer must hold a valid certificate issued annually by the Director of the
Missouri Department of Labor pertaining to exemption of seasonal employees;
(5)
Any employee that is the parent, spouse, child or other member of the
employer's immediate family. For purposes of this subsection, the employer
shall include the principal stockholder of a family corporation;
(6)
Interns working for a business for academic credit in connection with a
course of study at an accredited school, college or university;
(7)
Persons working for a business in connection with a court-ordered
community service program; or
(8)
Persons 17 years of age or younger.
(d) "Employer"
means any individual, partnership, association, corporation, business trust, or
any business organization, person or group of persons engaged in providing,
selling, purchasing or investing in goods or services within the corporate
limits of Kansas City, Missouri, which has a total of more than 15 employees
regardless of age and regardless of location, and shall include the City of
Kansas City and its departments. Employer does not include any other
governmental entity which includes, for purposes of this Ordinance, any other
unit of local government, the state government, and the government of the United
States;
(e) "Minimum
Wage" means the minimum hourly rate of compensation that an employee shall
be paid;
(f) "Tips"
means a verifiable sum presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in
recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee
receiving the tip; and
(g) "Tipped
Employee" means an employee who customarily and regularly receives more
than thirty dollars ($30.00) a month in tips.
Sec. 38-202. Minimum Wage
Payment Requirements.
(a) Minimum Wage
established. The Minimum Wage rate for employees shall be:
Effective Date
|
Amount/Hour
|
September 18, 2017
|
$8.50
|
January 1, 2019
|
$9.82
|
January 1, 2020
|
$10.96
|
January 1, 2021
|
$11.98
|
January 1, 2023
|
$13.00
|
(b) Annual adjustments.
Beginning January 1, 2024 and on January 1 of successive years the Minimum Wage
shall be adjusted based upon the increase or decrease in the cost of living. On
September 30, 2023 and on each September 30 of each successive year the City
Manager shall measure the increase or decrease in the cost of living by the
percentage increase or decrease as of the preceding July over the level as of
July of the immediately preceding year of the Consumer Price Index for Urban
Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) or a successor index as published by
the U.S. Department of Labor or its successor agency, with the amount of the
Minimum Wage increase or decrease rounded to the nearest five cents. The City
of Kansas City, Missouri shall post on its website a bulletin announcing the
adjusted Minimum Wage rate for the upcoming calendar year no later than ninety
(90) days prior to each adjustment.
(c) Tipped
Employee Minimum Wage. A Tipped Employee shall be paid a minimum cash wage
directly by an Employer of no less than fifty percent (50%) of the Minimum Wage
established by the State of Missouri. An Employer may consider Tips as part of
wages of a Tipped Employee, but the Tips combined with the minimum cash wage
paid directly by the Employer shall not equal less than the Minimum Wage as
provided by subsection (a) of this Section. In the event a Tipped Employee
earns insufficient Tips combined with this minimum cash wage to receive a wage
at least equal to the Minimum Wage established by this Article, the Employer
shall pay the Employee the difference to ensure the Employee receives a wage
equal to the Minimum Wage established by this Article. All Tips received by
Tipped Employees are the sole property of the Tipped Employee and shall be
retained by the Tipped Employee, except that nothing in this Section shall
prohibit a valid tip pool under which Tips are pooled and distributed among all
Tipped Employees, provided that only the amount actually retained by each
Employee shall be considered part of that Employee's wages.
(d) Information Posted.
The City of Kansas City, Missouri shall post the Minimum Wage rates established
by this Ordinance on its website after this Ordinance becomes effective and at
least ninety (90) days prior to each adjustment.
(e) Adoption of
Missouri or federal rates. The minimum wage established by this Article
shall not apply if it is equal to or less than the minimum wage established by
Missouri or federal law.
Sec. 38-203. Prohibitions.
(a) Retaliation.
It shall be unlawful for any Employer or Employer's agent or representative to
discharge, demote, deny promotion to or in any way discriminate against an
Employee in the terms or conditions of employment in retaliation for the person
asserting a claim or right pursuant to this Article or assisting another person
to do so.
(b) Failure to Pay.
It shall be unlawful for any Employer or Employer’s agent or representative to
pay an Employee less than the minimum wage required by this Article.
Sec. 38-204. Remedies and
Penalties
(a) The City Manager
shall promulgate rules and regulations regarding the interpretation,
application and enforcement of this Ordinance. The City Manager is authorized
to receive any complaint regarding a possible or suspected violation of this
Ordinance and further authorized to take appropriate steps to enforce this
Ordinance, including, regardless of whether there is a complaint, investigating
any possible or suspected violation of this Ordinance.
(b) Before submitting to
the City Prosecutor complaints of violations, the City Manager shall provide
for a hearing conducted by a hearing officer uninvolved with the investigation
of the matter for a determination of whether or not this Article’s requirements
have been met by an Employer. Failure of the Employer to participate in the
hearing waives the requirement that a hearing be conducted before complaints
are forwarded to the City Prosecutor.
(c) An Employer
violating this Article shall be subject to a fine of up to $1,000.00 per
violation. Any Employer violating any of the requirements of this Article shall
be guilty of a separate offense for each week or portion thereof and for each
worker or person as to which any such violation has occurred
(d) The remedies provided
in this Article are not exclusive, and nothing in this Article shall preclude
any person from seeking any other remedies, penalties, or relief provided by
law.
Sec. 38-205. Severability
The requirements
and provisions of this article are severable. In the event that any
requirement, provision, part, subpart or clause of this article, or the
application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held by a court of
competent jurisdiction to be invalid or unenforceable, it is the intent of the
Council that the remainder of the article be enforced to the maximum extent
possible consistent with the objective of ensuring a Minimum Wage.
Sec. 38-206. Notice Posting.
As of October 1,
2017 an Employer shall post and display in a prominent location a notice that
the business is in compliance with the provisions of this article and shall
include the text of sections 38-202, 38-203 and 38-204 of this article.
Sec. 38-207. Procedure.
A complaint form
for use in reporting violations of this Ordinance shall be available on the
City webpage for use in reporting violations.
Section 2. That
the appropriation in the following account of the General Fund is reduced by
the following amount:
17-1000-179990-B Contingent
Appropriation $10,000.00
Section 3. That
$10,000.00 is appropriated from the Unappropriated Fund Balance of the General
Fund to the following account:
17-1000-101013-B Minimum
Wage Notification $10,000.00
Section 4. That said
appropriation shall be used for the purpose of notifying employers and
employees of the provisions of this ordinance forthwith.
Section 5. This ordinance, relating to the
appropriation of money, is recognized as an ordinance with an accelerated
effective date as provided by Section 503(a)(3)(C) of the City Charter and
shall take effect in accordance with Section 503, City Charter.
_____________________________________________
I hereby certify that there is a balance,
otherwise unencumbered, to the credit of the appropriation to which the
foregoing expenditure is to be charged, and a cash balance, otherwise
unencumbered, in the treasury, to the credit of the fund from which payment is
to be made, each sufficient to meet the obligation hereby incurred.
__________________________________
Randall
J. Landes
Director of
Finance
Approved as to
form:
__________________________________
Sarah
Baxter
Assistant City
Attorney