Gov. Scott Walker dismissed a lawsuit filed by a labor advocacy group Monday involving Wisconsin’s minimum wage law.
Wisconsin Jobs Now filed a complaint in the Dane County Circuit Court that the Wisconsin minimum wage, currently set at $7.25 per hour, does not constitute a living wage as defined by state law.
Wisconsin’s current minimum wage is based on a 101 year old law, according to a Wisconsin Jobs Now press release. A living wage, defined under the law, must provide “reasonable comfort, reasonable physical well-being, decency, and moral well-being.”
The lawsuit requests that either a judge open a state investigation or issue a standing on the legality of the state’s current minimum wage law.
Speaking in response to the lawsuit at an optics plant Monday, Walker said, “It’s simple. It’s a political stunt. If they were serious about that, they would have done it six months ago,” according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The lawsuit comes in response to an Oct. 6 report by the Department of Workforce Development dismissing previous certified complaints filed on behalf of workers by Wisconsin Jobs Now.
“Wisconsin law clearly states that the minimum wage should be no less than a living wage, and underpaid workers deserve full consideration of the merits of their complaint as the law requires” Peter Rickerman of Wisconsin Jobs Now said, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
Minimum wage has become a focal point in the gubernatorial race between Walker and Democratic challenger Mary Burke, who supports raising the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour.
