IFA Issues Statement in Response to Supreme Court Ruling in Seattle Case

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Matthew Haller, 202-662-0770

Jenna Weisbord, 202-662-0766

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IFA ISSUES STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO SUPREME COURT RULING IN SEATTLE CASE


WASHINGTON, May 2—International Franchise Association, the world’s largest organization representing franchise owners, expressed disappointment following the United States Supreme Court ruling refusal to hear the decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold the city of Seattle’s 2014 minimum wage law, which purposefully discriminates against small franchised businesses.   


IFA and five Seattle franchisees sued Seattle in June 2014, seeking to block portions of the city’s new law to increase the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. The plaintiffs asked the court to enjoin the city from treating franchisees as large, national companies rather than the small, locally-owned businesses that they are.


“Today’s decision from the Supreme Court is clearly a disappointment as our appeal has always focused solely on the discriminatory treatment of franchisees under Seattle’s wage law and the motivation to discriminate against interstate commerce,” said IFA President & CEO Robert Cresanti. “Seattle’s ordinance is blatantly discriminatory and affirmatively harms Seattle hard-working franchise small business owners every day since it has gone into effect. We are simply attempting to level the playing field for the 600 local franchise business owners employing 19,000 people in Seattle.”


Seattle’s new law, which went into effect April 1 2015, requires large businesses; defined as those with more than 500 employees, to raise the minimum wage they pay their employees to $15 an hour over three years starting in April 2015. Smaller businesses will have seven years to phase in the wage increase. The IFA lawsuit argued that the Seattle ordinance defied years of legal precedent clearly defining a franchisee as an independent local business owner who operates separately from its franchisor, which provides brand and marketing materials.


Cresanti said IFA is still reviewing the opinion to evaluate the next steps in the appeal. 


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About the International Franchise Association

Celebrating 56 years of excellence, education and advocacy, the International Franchise Association is the world’s oldest and largest organization representing franchising worldwide. IFA works through its government relations and public policy, media relations and educational programs to protect, enhance and promote franchising and the more than 800,000 franchise establishments that support nearly 9.1 million direct jobs, $994 billion of economic output for the U.S. economy and 3 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). IFA members include franchise companies in over 300 different business format categories, individual franchisees and companies that support the industry in marketing, law, technology and business development.

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