A living wage ordinance (LWO) sets a compensation floor
at the municipal or county level that cannot be negotiated away, in much the
same way that a minimum wage law sets a wage floor at the state or federal
level. Nearly all LWOs, including Marin?s, specify one hourly wage for workers
who receive employer-provided health coverage, and another, slightly higher
hourly wage for those who do not receive employer-provided health coverage. The
difference is called a "health benefit offset," or sometimes just a
"health benefit."
In 2001, Marin County took the bold step of becoming the first county or
municipality in the North Bay to adopt a living wage ordinance. County
employees and employees of county contractors are covered by the Marin County
Living Wage Ordinance, including In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) workers.
These are the homecare workers who make it possible for low-income elders and
people with disabilities to remain in their homes.
Just over a year ago, at the recommendation of the county administrator,
the Board of Supervisors amended Marin's LWO to exclude homecare workers who do
not receive employer-provided health coverage from receiving the hourly health
benefit offset. The County Administrator based his recommendation on a ?group
test? he concocted. Under his "group test," if any employee in a particular
group receives employer-provided health coverage, then no one in that group -- including those who do not receive employer-provided health insurance -- is
eligible to receive the health benefit offset. If that doesn't't make sense to
you, it's because it just doesn't make sense.
Two hundred eighty-five of about 1,300 homecare workers have
employer-provided health coverage. That means that more than 1,000 homecare
workers without insurance have been excluded from receiving the hourly health
benefit, which is currently $1.50/hour. No other county or municipality with a
living wage ordinance employs such a group test.
How was the county able to single out homecare workers for exclusion? It
has to do with the way Marin's LWO was originally crafted. The crafters of
Marin's original LWO wanted to cover as many low-wage workers as possible. In order to
ensure the ordinance would pass, they settled for two living wage amounts, the
nominal living wage, and another, lower living wage for homecare workers. This
two-tier structure allowed the county to treat homecare workers differently
than other workers.
The current, nominal living wage in Marin County is $11.55/hour for
covered workers without employer-provided health insurance, and $10.05/hour for
those without employer-provided health insurance. The special, lower
living wage for homecare workers is just $9.50/hour, making it the lowest
in the Bay Area. Marin County ranks just behind the City of Emeryville, whose
living wage for workers without health insurance is $1.50/hour higher at
$11.00/hour. According to the California Budget Project,
a single adult working full-time needs
to make $14.25/hour just to get by in Marin, Alameda, Contra Costa, Napa,
Santa Clara, Solano and Sonoma Counties.
On April 15, 2008, the Board of Supervisors opted to change the Living Wage Ordinance so that all covered workers are treated the same, but created a provision for withholding the annual Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) in case of fiscal emergency.:
All covered workers ought to be treated the same, and should not have their cost-of-living adjustment taken away in order to earn a fair wage today.
Our next step will be to convince the supervisors that the county's budget should not be balanced on the backs of the working poor, and that there should be a Living Wage COLA for 2009.
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