The City of Madison created a municipal ordinance that took effect January 1, 2005, raising the minimum wage for work done within the city limits to $5.70 an hour. The State of Wisconsin has established a minimum wage of $5.15 an hour which applies everywhere in the State, with the exception of Madison. A coalition of business and trade organizations filed suit in December, 2004 to block the ordinance, claiming a municipal government does not have the legal authority to supersede state authority by mandating an independent minimum wage requirement.
Last Thursday Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi ruled in favor of the City and dismissed the suit. The decision can be summarized as follows. While municipalities have no inherent powers, Wisconsin law allows cities wide latitude in governing their local affairs unless expressly prohibited by State law. Wisconsin Courts have established, by case precedent, a four part test to determine if State legislation has withdrawn local authority over specific matters. If the court finds an affirmative answer to any of the four questions, it must void the local ordinance.
The judge sympathises with the concern expressed by the business community that creating a patchwork of varied wage ordinances across Wisconsin is not desirable, and this decision will undoubtedly be appealed by the business community. The effort to prevent a “balkanization” of wage policy across the state appears to depend on how the courts ultimately define “logical”, and asking the courts to be logical is always problematic.
Once a measurable standard is established at the state level, how far can a local government deviate from that standard before the deviation becomes illogical? In other words, would a mandatory minimum wage of $1,000,000 per hour be logically acceptable since it is above the statutory floor level? If no prior case has established a judicial standard to determine reasonable variation from the norm, then perhaps this case will establish that precedent.
Last Thursday Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi ruled in favor of the City and dismissed the suit. The decision can be summarized as follows. While municipalities have no inherent powers, Wisconsin law allows cities wide latitude in governing their local affairs unless expressly prohibited by State law. Wisconsin Courts have established, by case precedent, a four part test to determine if State legislation has withdrawn local authority over specific matters. If the court finds an affirmative answer to any of the four questions, it must void the local ordinance.
(1) whether the legislature has expressly withdrawn the power of the municipalities to act;Judge Sumi found no evidence that the Madison Minimum Wage Ordinance violated questions 1, 3 or 4 of the test. The key to her decision in favor of the City rests entirely upon how she interpreted question 2, the potential for a logical conflict with state law. The Judge cites case precedent that defines logical conflict as “diametrically opposed”. She argues that because state law on minimum wage uses the phrase “not less than”, the state law establishes a floor for wages and not a ceiling. Since the Madison ordinance does not lower the floor, it is not diametrically opposed to the State legislation, therefore, it is not in logical conflict with the State.
(2) whether the ordinance logically conflicts with the state legislation;
(3) whether the ordinance defeats the purpose of the state legislation; or
(4) whether the ordinance goes against the spirit of the state legislation.
The judge sympathises with the concern expressed by the business community that creating a patchwork of varied wage ordinances across Wisconsin is not desirable, and this decision will undoubtedly be appealed by the business community. The effort to prevent a “balkanization” of wage policy across the state appears to depend on how the courts ultimately define “logical”, and asking the courts to be logical is always problematic.
Once a measurable standard is established at the state level, how far can a local government deviate from that standard before the deviation becomes illogical? In other words, would a mandatory minimum wage of $1,000,000 per hour be logically acceptable since it is above the statutory floor level? If no prior case has established a judicial standard to determine reasonable variation from the norm, then perhaps this case will establish that precedent.
