By Catherine Conlan 
Monster.com, December 6, 2015

The recession took a toll on businesses of all sizes and dampened salary levels as well. But as businesses have rebounded, so have compensation expectations for employees at small businesses, says Jose Laurel, director of recruitment services for G&A Partners, a human resources services provider in Houston. ...

The insights below will help your small business as you set 2016 salary levels. ...

Ripple Effects from an Increased Minimum Wage

The debate over an increased minimum wage, while often focused on large employers, affects small businesses as well...

By Nick McCrea
Bangor Daily News, Dec 15, 2015

BANGOR, Maine — Some members of the business community praised the city’s decision to increase the minimum wage locally, calling it an example the rest of the state should follow in order to help workers. Others interviewed Tuesday said the move overstepped local authority and could put the city at economic risk. The City Council voted 7-2 Monday night to boost the minimum wage in Bangor effective the first day of 2017, when it will jump from the statewide rate of $7.50 per hour to $8.25. The next year...

By Matt Murphy
State House News Service, Dec 15, 2015

... Under a separate law, the Massachusetts minimum wage rate will rise to $10 an hour on Jan. 1, and the Bay State will be tied with California for the nation's highest [state] minimum wage, according to the group Business for a Fair Minimum Wage. ...

Earlier this year, Senate leaders passed a proposal over objections from Republicans and some Democrats to pay for an expansion of the earned income tax credit for low-income families by freezing the income tax rate at 5.15 percent. The House rejected...

Trillium Asset Management, Dec 4, 2015

Trillium Asset Management, on behalf of our client The Congregational Council of Plymouth Church UCC of Seattle, recently filed a shareholder proposal at Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) urging the Board of Directors to “adopt principles for minimum wage reform, to be published by October 2016."

... Americans have become increasingly aware of the problem of low wages and economic inequality. For that reason, we believe that companies need to speak up in support of a minimum standard of living necessary for the health and general well-being of...

Eleanor Kennedy
Nashville Business Journal, Nov 20, 2015

Affluence is about more than money, and making sure prosperity is shared doesn’t mean just increasing income. Here’s the take from some local public and private sector leaders on improving income inequality in Nashville: ...

Sherry Stewart Deutschmann, CEO, LetterLogic:

Opponents of raising the minimum wage argue doing so would lead employers to eliminate jobs. That’s not how Sherry Stewart Deutschmann, CEO of a company with one of Nashville’s most-lauded business cultures, sees it.

“Forget about the ‘socially responsible’ reasons to increase the minimum wage. Instead, approach the issue from...

By Beth Musgrave
Lexington Herald Leader, Nov 19, 2015

PHOTO: Local business owner Freddy Peralta expressed support for raising Lexington’s minimum wage at an Urban County Council meeting Thursday, Nov. 19, 2015

Lexington’s Urban County Council on Thursday voted to raise the city’s minimum wage.

After listening to dozens of people testify for and against the ordinance for 90 minutes, the council voted 9-6 to gradually raise the minimum wage from the current federal minimum, $7.25 an hour, to $10.10 an hour over the next three years.

On July 1, the minimum wage would increase...

By Heesun Wee
CNBC, Nov 11, 2015

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's decision Tuesday to raise minimum pay for all New York state workers to $15 an hour underscores the powerful role governors and local governments can play in shaping the national wage fight.

To date, no other state has enacted a $15 public sector minimum wage. ... About 10,000 state employees will benefit from the governor's decision, and higher pay will take effect incrementally in a phase-in schedule — from year's end through 2021.

Cuomo's unique move is "exactly the kind of steps that governments and...

By Kenneth Lovett
New York Daily News, Nov 10, 2015

ALBANY — They‘re trying to “Save Our Swirled.“

Calling it a “real moral issue,” Ben & Jerry’s corporation is publicly supporting Gov. Cuomo’s push for a $15-an-hour state minimum wage, the Daily News has learned.

“It's a moral disgrace that so many hard-working New Yorkers have to scrape to get by on a minimum wage that has fallen so far behind the cost of living,” said Ben & Jerry’s Board Chairman Jeff Furman.

The current $8.75 an hour minimum wage is set to jump to...

Op-Ed By Richard Correa, Owner, Correa Agency
Raising the minimum wage makes good business sense whether you are a Republican, Democrat or Independent. It should not be a partisan issue. ...

Op-Ed By Simon Arias, Owner, Arias Agencies
Pennsylvania’s minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 an hour since 2009, which is bad for business as well as workers. ...

By Esha Chhabra
Forbes, Oct 30, 2015

This Pennsylvania-based business says that the minimum wage in the state is a “poverty wage.”  Instead, they’re opting to pay their employees nearly twice that.

The Lancaster Food Company was started last year by Charlie Crystle and Craig Lauer, an entrepreneur and a foodie, respectively.  They sell breads, seed butters, salsas, and maple syrup — all organic and all local.  But aside from serving up high quality food, the duo want to solve some serious social issues in the area.

Lancaster City has a high poverty rate.  About 30%, Crystle...

By Jamie McGee
The Tennessean, October 22, 2015

... The stakes were high. As a single mom, she was raising a daughter and a granddaughter, and she had just left a well-paying sales job to prove a business could be run better by valuing employees. ...

For the past nine years, LetterLogic has been on Inc. 5000’s list of fastest-growing private companies. The company employs 53 people, generates an annual revenue of $36 million and is regularly courted by interested buyers.

Deutschmann, meanwhile, has emerged as a leading business owner locally and nationally. She is...

By Aine O'Connor
St. Louis Public Radio, October 22, 2015

St. Louis native Danny Meyer recently rocked the restaurant world, making national news with his decision to eliminate tipping from his family of New York City restaurants. ... Meyer’s decision to eliminate tipping comes at an interesting time in labor politics. Service industry workers all over the country are raising their voices for a higher minimum wage, federally and locally. The federal tipped minimum wage has languished at $2.13 since the early 1990s. In Missouri, tipped minimum wage is $3.825, or half of the $7.65...

By Ian Froeb
St. Louis Post Dispatch, October 16, 2015

Danny Meyer, the St. Louis native who over the past 30 years has become one of the country’s most influential restaurateurs, announced on Wednesday that he will eliminate tipping at all 13 restaurants owned by his Union Square Hospitality Group. Menu prices at the New York City restaurants, which range from barbecue joint Blue Smoke to such upscale establishments as Gramercy Tavern and the Modern, will increase to account for service.

Meyer is not the first restaurateur to eliminate tipping, but his stature in the...

By Ryan Hoffman
Citizen Telegram. Also Aspen Times, Oct 14, 2016

Feelings toward a constitutional amendment that would raise Colorado’s minimum wage to $12 per hour by 2020 vary depending on where you are on the Western Slope. ...

Fore nearly 13 years Laurie Raymond has been a small business owner, running High Tails Dog & Cat Outfitters Inc. in Glenwood Springs.

During that time, Raymond said she has made it a point to try to pay her few employees as much as she can while ensuring the business remains profitable.

“I’ve never paid my...