The Missouri Supreme Court [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] on Tuesday that St. Louis may raise its minimum wage in 2018. The court found that the city acted within its charter authority when it approved [ordinance, PDF] a wage increase [mayoral press release] to $11 an hour. The ruling by Missouri’s highest court reverses a circuit decision that struck down the increase in 2015 and goes against business groups who sued the city citing state laws that cap the minimum wage at $7.65. The business groups argued that a uniform standard was needed so that there wasn’t confusion and inconsistency throughout the state regarding minimum wage. The court, however, found [St. Louis Post-Dispatch report] that the law setting the minimum wage at $7.65 was meant to set a “floor for minimum wages” and not a “maximum minimum wage.” The law was initially set to gradually increase the wage to $11 by 2018. St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay [official website] has stated he will work with businesses on the timing of the increase.

Minimum wage 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. Last January 14 states approved [Reuters report] increases in minimum wage from an average of $8.50 an hour to a little over $9. However, some states still, technically, have no minimum wage at all. Tennessee, Mississippi, South Carolina, Louisiana and Alabama have no state minimum wage legislation [NCSL fact sheet] beyond the $7.25 per hour mandated by the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 [LOC backgrounder], Congress’ most recent legislative act on the minimum wage.