Attorney: Portland's wage hike proposal is risky
The city of Portland’s top attorney said that while a proposed minimum wage is constitutional, it could be difficult to enforce.
Corporation Counsel Danielle West-Chuhta said in a new memo that Portland would have the legal authority to increase the minimum wage from $7.50 an hour, the state’s current minimum wage, according to the Portland Press Herald. Portland Mayor Michael Brennan is eyeing an increase in the city's minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by next year.
Despite its legality, West-Chuhta added, she is “still concerned that this issue has not yet been litigated in Maine, and that future enforcement may prove to be difficult,” noting that minimum wage laws have been challenged under four clauses of the Maine Constitution.
Though three of the Maine Constitution’s clauses — contract, equal protection and due process — were used in unsuccessful arguments, West-Chuhta said, the fourth type of clause, the so-called takings clause, could be used to argue that a higher municipal minimum wage could harm an employer-employee contract.
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