Alabama Wage Law Gets Race Bias Test in Eleventh Circuit (1)

A federal appeals court is poised to decide whether an Alabama state law blocking a Birmingham minimum wage hike discriminates against the city’s majority African-American workforce, in a case that could bolster local attempts to boost wages around the country.

The Birmingham minimum wage ordinance, which raised pay to $10.10 an hour, went into effect for one day in 2016 before Alabama lawmakers, backed by the state’s business lobby, passed a law that barred local wage statutes from setting a minimum wage higher than the state’s, which like the national rate is $7.25 an hour. It was one of 25 ...