Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers has filed a lawsuit against the City of Lincoln, challenging the city’s recently approved minimum wage ordinance and arguing it conflicts with state law. The lawsuit was filed Thursday and asks the courts to block the ordinance from taking effect, claiming it violates the Nebraska Constitution by overriding policies established by the Nebraska Legislature.
Earlier this year, lawmakers amended Nebraska’s Wage and Hour Act, setting a 1.75 percent annual growth rate for the state’s minimum wage and allowing employers to pay workers under age 20 a youth minimum wage of $13.50 an hour.
According to Hilgers, Lincoln’s ordinance directly contradicts those provisions by establishing a different minimum wage growth rate and requiring employers to pay youth workers at least $15 an hour.
“The question is whether the City of Lincoln can operate as a super-legislature and modify the laws that the Legislature passes on statewide issues,” Hilgers says. “They can’t, but are trying anyway, so we are forced to sue to uphold the Constitution and state law.”
Hilgers argues the ordinance could increase labor costs for businesses and affect prices for goods and services beyond Lincoln’s city limits, undermining the statewide consistency lawmakers intended. The lawsuit seeks an injunction preventing the ordinance from taking effect while the legal challenge moves through the courts.
City officials had not publicly responded to the lawsuit at the time of this report.