Raise the Wage Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 603 To provide for increases in the Federal minimum wage, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 28, 2021 Mr. SCOTT of Virginia (for himself, Mrs. MURPHY of Florida, Ms. JAYAPAL, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. HOYER, Mr. CLYBURN, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. AGUILAR, Mr. AUCHINCLOSS, Mrs. AXNE, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Ms. BASS, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. BERA, Mr. BEYER, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Penn- sylvania, Mr. BROWN, Ms. BROWNLEY, Mrs. BUSTOS, Mr. BOWMAN, Ms. BUSH, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. CARSON, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Mr. CASTEN, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Ms. CHU, Mr. CICILLINE, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. COHEN, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. COOPER, Mr. COURTNEY, Ms. CRAIG, Mr. CRIST, Mr. CROW, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. DEAN, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. DEGETTE, Ms. DELAURO, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. DEUTCH, Mrs. DEMINGS, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania, Ms. ESCOBAR, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. EVANS, Ms. LOIS FRANKEL of Florida, Mr. FOSTER, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr. GRI- JALVA, Mr. GOMEZ, Ms. HAALAND, Mr. HASTINGS, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. HORSFORD, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. HIGGINS of New York, Mr. HIMES, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. JACOBS of California, Mr. JEFFRIES, Ms. JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. JONES, Mr. KAHELE, Ms. KAP- TUR, Mr. KEATING, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. KILDEE, Mrs. KIRKPATRICK, Mr. KILMER, Mr. KIM of New Jersey, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Mr. LARSON of Con- necticut, Mr. LAMB, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. LAWSON of Florida, Mrs. LAW- RENCE, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ, Mr. LEVIN of Michigan, Mr. LEVIN of California, Mr. LIEU, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mrs. LURIA, Mr. LYNCH, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York, Mr. MALINOWSKI, Ms. MANNING, Ms. MATSUI, Mrs. MCBATH, Ms. MCCOL- LUM, Mr. MCEACHIN, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. MENG, Mr. MFUME, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. MORELLE, Mr. MOULTON, Mr. MRVAN, Mr. NADLER, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. NEGUSE, VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 Feb 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H603.IH H603 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 603 IH Ms. NEWMAN, Mr. NORCROSS, Ms. NORTON, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. OMAR, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. PETERS, Mr. PERLMUTTER, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. POCAN, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. RASKIN, Miss RICE of New York, Ms. ROSS, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. RUIZ, Mr. RUPPERS- BERGER, Mr. RUSH, Mr. RYAN, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Mr. SARBANES, Ms. SCANLON, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. SHERMAN, Ms. SHERRILL, Mr. SIRES, Mr. SMITH of Wash- ington, Ms. SPANBERGER, Ms. SPEIER, Ms. STEVENS, Ms. STRICKLAND, Mr. SOTO, Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. SWALWELL, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Ms. TITUS, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. TONKO, Mrs. TORRES of California, Mr. TORRES of New York, Mrs. TRAHAN, Mr. TRONE, Ms. UNDERWOOD, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. VEASEY, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Ms. WATERS, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. WELCH, Ms. WEXTON, Ms. WILD, Ms. WILLIAMS of Geor- gia, Ms. WILSON of Florida, and Mr. YARMUTH) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To provide for increases in the Federal minimum wage, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Raise the Wage Act 4 of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. MINIMUM WAGE INCREASES. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor 7 Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206(a)(1)) is amended 8 to read as follows: 9 ‘‘(1) except as otherwise provided in this sec- 10 tion, not less than— 11 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 Feb 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H603.IH H603 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 603 IH ‘‘(A) $9.50 an hour, beginning on the ef- 1 fective date under section 7 of the Raise the 2 Wage Act of 2021; 3 ‘‘(B) $11.00 an hour, beginning 1 year 4 after such effective date; 5 ‘‘(C) $12.50 an hour, beginning 2 years 6 after such effective date; 7 ‘‘(D) $14.00 an hour, beginning 3 years 8 after such effective date; 9 ‘‘(E) $15.00 an hour, beginning 4 years 10 after such effective date; and 11 ‘‘(F) beginning on the date that is 5 years 12 after such effective date, and annually there- 13 after, the amount determined by the Secretary 14 under subsection (h);’’. 15 (b) DETERMINATION BASED ON INCREASE IN THE 16 MEDIAN HOURLY WAGE OF ALL EMPLOYEES.—Section 17 6 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 18 206) is amended by adding at the end the following: 19 ‘‘(h)(1) Not later than each date that is 90 days be- 20 fore a new minimum wage determined under subsection 21 (a)(1)(F) is to take effect, the Secretary shall determine 22 the minimum wage to be in effect under this subsection 23 for each period described in subsection (a)(1)(F). The 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 Feb 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H603.IH H603 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 603 IH wage determined under this subsection for a year shall 1 be— 2 ‘‘(A) not less than the amount in effect under 3 subsection (a)(1) on the date of such determination; 4 ‘‘(B) increased from such amount by the annual 5 percentage increase, if any, in the median hourly 6 wage of all employees as determined by the Bureau 7 of Labor Statistics; and 8 ‘‘(C) rounded up to the nearest multiple of 9 $0.05. 10 ‘‘(2) In calculating the annual percentage increase in 11 the median hourly wage of all employees for purposes of 12 paragraph (1)(B), the Secretary, through the Bureau of 13 Labor Statistics, shall compile data on the hourly wages 14 of all employees to determine such a median hourly wage 15 and compare such median hourly wage for the most recent 16 year for which data are available with the median hourly 17 wage determined for the preceding year.’’. 18 SEC. 3. TIPPED EMPLOYEES. 19 (a) BASE MINIMUM WAGE FOR TIPPED EMPLOYEES 20 AND TIPS RETAINED BY EMPLOYEES.—Section 21 3(m)(2)(A)(i) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 22 (29 U.S.C. 203(m)(2)(A)(i)) is amended to read as fol- 23 lows: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 Feb 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H603.IH H603 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 603 IH ‘‘(i) the cash wage paid such employee, which 1 for purposes of such determination shall be not less 2 than— 3 ‘‘(I) for the 1-year period beginning on the 4 effective date under section 7 of the Raise the 5 Wage Act of 2021, $4.95 an hour; 6 ‘‘(II) for each succeeding 1-year period 7 until the hourly wage under this clause equals 8 the wage in effect under section 6(a)(1) for 9 such period, an hourly wage equal to the 10 amount determined under this clause for the 11 preceding year, increased by the lesser of— 12 ‘‘(aa) $2.00; or 13 ‘‘(bb) the amount necessary for the 14 wage in effect under this clause to equal 15 the wage in effect under section 6(a)(1) for 16 such period, rounded up to the nearest 17 multiple of $0.05; and 18 ‘‘(III) for each succeeding 1-year period 19 after the increase made pursuant to subclause 20 (II), the minimum wage in effect under section 21 6(a)(1); and’’. 22 (b) TIPS RETAINED BY EMPLOYEES.—Section 23 3(m)(2)(A) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 24 U.S.C. 203(m)(2)(A)) is amended— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 Feb 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H603.IH H603 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 603 IH (1) in the second sentence of the matter fol- 1 lowing clause (ii), by striking ‘‘of this subsection, 2 and all tips received by such employee have been re- 3 tained by the employee’’ and inserting ‘‘of this sub- 4 section. Any employee shall have the right to retain 5 any tips received by such employee’’; and 6 (2) by adding at the end the following: ‘‘An em- 7 ployer shall inform each employee of the right and 8 exception provided under the preceding sentence.’’. 9 (c) SCHEDULED REPEAL OF SEPARATE MINIMUM 10 WAGE FOR TIPPED EMPLOYEES.— 11 (1) TIPPED EMPLOYEES.—Section 3(m)(2)(A) 12 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 13 203(m)(2)(A)), as amended by subsections (a) and 14 (b), is further amended by striking the sentence be- 15 ginning with ‘‘In determining the wage an employer 16 is required to pay a tipped employee,’’ and all that 17 follows through ‘‘of this subsection.’’ and inserting 18 ‘‘The wage required to be paid to a tipped employee 19 shall be the wage set forth in section 6(a)(1).’’. 20 (2) PUBLICATION OF NOTICE.—Subsection (i) 21 of section 6 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 22 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206), as amended by section 5, is 23 further amended by striking ‘‘or in accordance with 24 subclause (II) or (III) of section 3(m)(2)(A)(i)’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 Feb 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H603.IH H603 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 603 IH (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 1 by paragraphs (1) and (2) shall take effect on the 2 date that is 1 day after the date on which the hourly 3 wage under subclause (III) of section 3(m)(2)(A)(i) 4 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 5 203(m)(2)(A)(i)), as amended by subsection (a), 6 takes effect. 7 (d) PENALTIES.—Section 16 of the Fair Labor 8 Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 216) is amended— 9 (1) in the third sentence of subsection (b), by 10 inserting ‘‘or used’’ after ‘‘kept’’; and 11 (2) in the second sentence of subsection (e)(2), 12 by inserting ‘‘or used’’ after ‘‘kept’’. 13 SEC. 4. NEWLY HIRED EMPLOYEES WHO ARE LESS THAN 20 14 YEARS OLD. 15 (a) BASE MINIMUM WAGE FOR NEWLY HIRED EM- 16 PLOYEES WHO ARE LESS THAN 20 YEARS OLD.—Section 17 6(g)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 18 U.S.C. 206(g)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘a wage which 19 is not less than $4.25 an hour.’’ and inserting the fol- 20 lowing: ‘‘a wage at a rate that is not less than— 21 ‘‘(A) for the 1-year period beginning on the ef- 22 fective date under section 7 of the Raise the Wage 23 Act of 2021, $6.00 an hour; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 Feb 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H603.IH H603 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 603 IH ‘‘(B) for each succeeding 1-year period until the 1 hourly wage under this paragraph equals the wage 2 in effect under section 6(a)(1) for such period, an 3 hourly wage equal to the amount determined under 4 this paragraph for the preceding year, increased by 5 the lesser of— 6 ‘‘(i) $1.75; or 7 ‘‘(ii) the amount necessary for the wage in 8 effect under this paragraph to equal the wage 9 in effect under section 6(a)(1) for such period, 10 rounded up to the nearest multiple of $0.05; 11 and 12 ‘‘(C) for each succeeding 1-year period after the 13 increase made pursuant to subparagraph (B)(ii), the 14 minimum wage in effect under section 6(a)(1).’’. 15 (b) SCHEDULED REPEAL OF SEPARATE MINIMUM 16 WAGE FOR NEWLY HIRED EMPLOYEES WHO ARE LESS 17 THAN 20 YEARS OLD.— 18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 6(g) of the Fair 19 Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206(g)), as 20 amended by subsection (a), shall be repealed. 21 (2) PUBLICATION OF NOTICE.—Subsection (i) 22 of section 6 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 23 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206), as amended by section 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 Feb 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H603.IH H603 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 603 IH 3(c)(2), is further amended by striking ‘‘or subpara- 1 graph (B) or (C) of subsection (g)(1),’’. 2 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The repeal and amend- 3 ment made by paragraphs (1) and (2), respectively, 4 shall take effect on the date that is 1 day after the 5 date on which the hourly wage under subparagraph 6 (C) of section 6(g)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards 7 Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206(g)(1)), as amended by 8 subsection (a), takes effect. 9 SEC. 5. PUBLICATION OF NOTICE. 10 Section 6 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 11 (29 U.S.C. 206), as amended by the preceding sections, 12 is further amended by adding at the end the following: 13 ‘‘(i) Not later than 60 days prior to the effective date 14 of any increase in the required wage determined under 15 subsection (a)(1) or subparagraph (B) or (C) of subsection 16 (g)(1), or in accordance with subclause (II) or (III) of sec- 17 tion 3(m)(2)(A)(i) or section 14(c)(1)(A), the Secretary 18 shall publish in the Federal Register and on the website 19 of the Department of Labor a notice announcing each in- 20 crease in such required wage.’’. 21 SEC. 6. PROMOTING ECONOMIC SELF-SUFFICIENCY FOR IN- 22 DIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES. 23 (a) WAGES.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 Feb 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H603.IH H603 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 603 IH (1) TRANSITION TO FAIR WAGES FOR INDIVID- 1 UALS WITH DISABILITIES.—Subparagraph (A) of 2 section 14(c)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 3 1938 (29 U.S.C. 214(c)(1)) is amended to read as 4 follows: 5 ‘‘(A) at a rate that equals or exceeds, for each 6 year, the greater of— 7 ‘‘(i)(I) $5.00 an hour, beginning on the ef- 8 fective date under section 7 of the Raise the 9 Wage Act of 2021; 10 ‘‘(II) $7.50 an hour, beginning 1 year 11 after such effective date; 12 ‘‘(III) $10.00 an hour, beginning 2 years 13 after such effective date; 14 ‘‘(IV) $12.50 an hour, beginning 3 years 15 after such effective date; 16 ‘‘(V) $15.00 an hour, beginning 4 years 17 after such effective date; and 18 ‘‘(VI) the wage rate in effect under section 19 6(a)(1), beginning 5 years after such effective 20 date; or 21 ‘‘(ii) if applicable, the wage rate in effect 22 on the day before the date of enactment of the 23 Raise the Wage Act of 2021 for the employ- 24 ment, under a special certificate issued under 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 Feb 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H603.IH H603 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 603 IH this paragraph, of the individual for whom the 1 wage rate is being determined under this sub- 2 paragraph,’’. 3 (2) PROHIBITION ON NEW SPECIAL CERTIFI- 4 CATES; SUNSET.—Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor 5 Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 214(c)) (as 6 amended by paragraph (1)) is further amended by 7 adding at the end the following: 8 ‘‘(6) PROHIBITION ON NEW SPECIA [Text truncated for display. 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