UKIAH, CA., 2/4/2017 — At a workshop on changes in the minimum wage law, Steve Lamb, of West Company, offered small business owners advice on how to comply with evolving regulations while staying financially viable. On April 4, 2016, Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 3, which will eventually raise the minimum wage in California to $15 an hour. This is happening incrementally, and at different rates for businesses of different sizes. Last year, the minimum wage went up to $10 an hour. On the first day of 2017, some businesses were required to raise that pay again, to $10.50 an hour.
West Company[footnote]Footnote 1: Full disclosure, The Mendocino Voice is a client of West Company and participates in the county’s small business program. However, the reporter who worked on this story does not ever interact with West Company, or the business side of The Mendocino Voice.[/footnote] is a non-profit economic development organization that offers business consulting to entrepreneurs and small businesses in Mendocino County. Lamb, a business adviser, acknowledged that there were “doom and gloom” aspects to his presentation about the increased minimum wage. These included increased prices all around as the cost of labor rises, the difficulty of retaining employees who grow restless in low-paying jobs, and the eventual link between the minimum wage and the consumer price index (CPI). However, the point of the workshop was to offer strategies, which consisted of crafting job descriptions, keeping track of prices and regulations, and knowing exactly what is going on in the business.
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