Alabama Republican Gov. Robert Bentley was hit with a civil rights challenge Thursday for passing a law that prevents cities from enacting their own minimum wage.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) first filed the lawsuit April 28 on behalf of a group of fast-food workers. Birmingham almost enacted its own minimum wage increase but the law prevented it from doing so. The group revamped its lawsuit to include a civil rights violation under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
“We want the judge to say the state law is unconstitutional and to tell the city of Birmingham that it can enforce its ordinance,” Attorney Richard Rouco told The Wall Street Journal.
The NAACP also included more plaintiffs in its revision of the original lawsuit. The group claimed throughout its challenge that the local minimum wage prohibition had racial undertones since Birmingham has a large minority population. Minimum wage advocates saw some of their biggest successes on the city level starting with Seattle in June 2014.
Alabama Republicans hold a majority in both the state House and Senate, allowing them to pass the ban relatively quickly. Alabama was among a handful of states looking to outlaw local minimum wage ordinances. A similar Washington state bill passed the Republican-controlled Senate Feb. 4 but has yet to overcome the Democratic majority in the House.
Alabama and Washington are not the first states to try and ban localized minimum wage increases. Oklahoma passed its own local ban in April, 2014. New Mexico Republicans tried to reverse city minimum wage ordinances that had already passed, but the measure died Feb. 6.
New York and California both became the first states Apr. 4 to raise their minimum wages to $15 an hour. Some experts and lawmakers expressed concern it may hurt workers by reducing employment opportunities. Many businesses may not have the profits to handle such an increase.
The NAACP and Bentley did not respond to requests for comment by The Daily Caller News Foundation.
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