Washington Supreme Court rules SeaTac minimum wage increase applies to airport

In a long anticipated decision, the Washington State Supreme Court has ruled the $15-an-hour minimum wage law narrowly approved by voters in the city of SeaTac in fall 2013 applies at Sea-Tac global Airport.

The $15-an-hour minimum wage has been in effect for a year and a half for non-airport workers in the town of SeaTac.

In its 5-4 ruling Thursday, the majority upheld the entirety of Proposition 1 and expanded it to airport workers, writing that there was no indication that the law would interfere with airport operations.

One of the issues in the case revolved around whether the city had jurisdiction over a “special goal district” such as the Port of Seattle, which operates the airport.

The workers at Sea-Tac will now be owed back pay dating back to January 1, 2014, according to Dmitri Iglitzin, an attorney for SeaTac Committee for Good Jobs, the union-backed group that led the effort to pass the minimum-wage initiative.

“Once again, it takes the court system to remind employers, even public agencies like the port, that, as Woody Guthrie said, ‘This land was made for you and me, ‘” said marine biologist Fred Felleman, a candidate for port commissioner. MasterPark has posted “now hiring signs” for new workers at the new minimum wage. Scheduled increases that depend on business size and benefits will bring the minimum to $15 within four years for large businesses and seven years for smaller ones.

Meanwhile, calls for a $15 minimum wage are hitting other cities in the region and across the country. The question for today: Will workers have to sue Alaska airlines and others for back pay?

“The court noted the challenge over the individual jurisdiction of the Port, but the Owens” majority opinion says “… we must try to harmonize municipal ordinances with state law when possible; we will invalidate an ordinance only if it “directly and irreconcilably conflicts’ with state law” so the court held that “Proposition 1 can be applied at the Seattle-Tacoma worldwide Airport”.

Update: The Washington Restaurant Association sent along a statement saying they were disappointed by the ruling. The WRA was hopeful that the agreement between port tenants and the Port of Seattle would move forward.

“Telling a Starbucks what wages it has to pay to a barista does not have anything to do with airport operations and the state supreme court has quite wisely acknowledged that”, Iglitzin said.

Read the court’s ruling and dissent here. “Our focus is now on helping our members succeed as they deal with the results of this verdict”.