The Arizona Supreme Court [official website] on Tuesday unanimously rejected a challenge to a voter approved minimum wage law. The court had agreed to consider the constitutionality of Proposition 206 [text, PDF] last month. The institution of this law raises minimum wage from $8.05 to $10 an hour. By 2020, the minimum wage will increase to $12 an hour as a voter-approved law. This law also requires employers to provide at least three days of paid leave for their workers annually. Business groups who contested Proposition 206 argued it violated a constitutional provision that any ballot measure requiring state spending must also include a source of revenue. The court held a hearing on the measure last week but rejected the challenge [Capitol Media Services report] Tuesday without comment.

Minimum wage and employment issues continues to be a controversial issue in the US. The US has not seen an increase [Reuters report] in federal minimum wage since 2009. In the absence of a federal increase, many states have responded by raising their own minimum wages. Voters in Arizona, Colorado, Maine and Washington all approved minimum wage increase initiatives [JURIST report] in November, while South Dakota rejected a measure to lower the minimum wage. In January the Supreme Court of Missouri [official website] ruled [JURIST report] that the Kansas City Board of Commissioners [official website] must place a minimum wage proposal on the upcoming ballot. The same month the Kentucky legislature passed [JURIST report] the right-to-work legislation. In March the Missouri Supreme Court [official website] ruled [JURIST report] that St. Louis may raise its minimum wage next year. In January a federal judge refused [JURIST report] to force Wal-Mart to pay $80 million in back pay. The same month the US Department of Labor [official website] filed [JURIST report] a lawsuit against Oracle America, Inc. alleging it had a systemic practice of paying Caucasian male workers more than other works in the same job position.