With St. Paul's first minimum wage bump set for January, City Council members have come up with a plan to enforce it.
In an ordinance introduced Wednesday, council members Dai Thao, Rebecca Noecker and Jane Prince outlined a proposal for educating employers and employees about the city's minimum wage and earned sick and safe time laws as well as when and how violations occur.
"It is not enough to adopt ordinances to improve the lives of workers," Prince said in a statement. "We need to ensure that businesses and employees are well-informed about their rights and obligations. By our actions here, the city is establishing guidelines for an effective rollout."
The city's human rights department, which would house a new Division of Labor Standards Enforcement and Education, would be responsible for the bulk of the enforcement and education.
The ordinance does not include specifics about staffing or funding — rather, it calls for the creation of "an equitable budget proposal" for the 2020 budget.
The City Council passed the earned sick and safe time ordinance in 2016 and the $15 minimum wage ordinance last year. In May, about two dozen workers and activists demonstrated at City Hall, saying their employers hadn't allowed them to take sick days.
