Request for a Preliminary Injunction Against Discriminatory Treatment of Franchises in Seattle’s $15 Wage Ordinance Moves Forward
(October 14, 2014) The International Franchise Association (IFA) has completed its reply to Seattle’s arguments on the IFA lawsuit challenging the discriminatory treatment of small franchise businesses in the city’s new minimum wage law. The next step will be for the judge to determine if and when the motion seeking a preliminary injunction will move to oral arguments. Read the briefs in support of a preliminary injunction here and here.
IFA and five Seattle franchisees sued Seattle on June 11 seeking to block portions of the city’s new law to increase the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. The plaintiffs asked the court to immediately enjoin the city from treating franchisees as large, national companies rather than the small, locally-owned businesses that they are.
The city’s ordinance categorizes small, independently-owned franchise owners as big, out-of-state businesses in violation of the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit argues that the Seattle ordinance defies years of legal precedent clearly defining a franchisee as an independent local business owner who operates separately from its franchisors that provide brand and marketing materials, based on the payment of an initial franchise fee and ongoing royalty payments to use the brand’s trademark.
In its motion for a preliminary injunction, the plaintiffs argue that the ordinance’s arbitrary definition of small businesses violates the Commerce Clause and Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution, as well as Washington State’s Constitution. The motion also contends that an injunction would be in the public interest and that franchisees will suffer “irreparable harm” unless a limited preliminary injunction is granted. Read the motion here.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Ad Campaign Exposes SEIU’s Hidden Agenda Behind $15 Minimum Wage Law in Seattle (August 20, 2014)