California Pizza Huts are laying off delivery drivers in order to brace for the nearly thirty percent hike in the minimum wage for fast-food workers set to kick in next April Fool’s Day.
Thanks to a new law signed by Democrat California Governor Gavin Newsom, the minimum wage for fast-food workers is set to jump from $15.50 to $20.00 an hour on April 1, 2024, Fox News reports:
“The new minimum wage, signed into law in September by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, takes effect on April 1, 2024, and applies to workers at restaurants that have at least 60 locations nationwide, except those that make and sell their own bread.
“The minimum wage for workers in other industries across the state stands at $15.50, among the highest in the nation.”
In anticipation of the higher costs, Pizza Hut franchises are laying off employees – including more than twelve hundred delivery drivers, some eliminating delivery entirely.
“Several Pizza Hut operators filed notices to comply with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act saying they were discontinuing their delivery services,” Business Insider reports.
Southern California Pizza Co., for example, has announced layoffs of 841 drivers in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside and Ventura counties.
Oddly, bread-baking restaurant chains will be inexplicably exempt from the new $20 minimum wage, Business Insider notes:
“It's unclear how restaurant chains like Panera Bread came to be exempt from the fast-food law.”
While California Pizza Huts are cutting staff, other fast-food chains, like McDonald’s and Chipotle, say they’ll simply pass the added cost on to consumers, in the form of higher prices.
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