The guys close out the week by discussing why companies like Google and Facebook are raising their ownminimum wage pay and how one company in Seattle isblowing up the minimum wage model.
Full Podcast Transcript
NASIR: All right. Welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and add our legal twist to that news. My name is Nasir Pasha.
MATT: And I’m Matt Staub.
NASIR: I feel like I don’t have to introduce myself anymore – like, ever – not even on the podcast. I’m just talking about in general anywhere.
MATT: Just go right into it.
NASIR: People should know who I am.
MATT: You’re the new… I don’t know. Who’s the most recognizable person?
NASIR: Abraham Lincoln.
MATT: Most recognizable living person.
NASIR: Oh, Abraham Lincoln.
MATT: I was going to say Obama but I think it’s an athlete – like, Michael Jordan, I think used to be the most well-known person, most recognizable person in the world.
NASIR: But maybe not now. If you think about it, there’s a whole generation of kids that haven’t even seen Michael Jordan play.
MATT: What was it? Like, Jordan and then Tiger Woods was really popular. I don’t know. Maybe Lebron James now.
NASIR: No, it has to be a movie star or celebrity, not an athlete. It’s more universal.
MATT: There’s not even any big movie stars or musicians.
NASIR: Actually, it depends – like what you referenced last week – their Q score. My Q score has gotten up there enough that I should just not have to introduce myself anymore.
MATT: Yeah, you should wear a shirt that has your score on it.
NASIR: Yeah.
MATT: Very good. Well, good work.
NASIR: Thank you.
MATT: Next time you and I are in the same spot and we’re meeting someone for the first time, I’ll just introduce myself and you won’t say anything.
NASIR: Exactly. And, if they don’t know me, I’ll get upset too.
MATT: Just leave?
NASIR: I’ll act offended, yeah.
MATT: Well, I can’t make a connection from that to this so I’m just going to go into this but there’s a couple of things that have popped up, one of which is a little bit older but just increases in pay in general. And so, the reason we’re talking about this – for those of you who haven’t heard – Facebook just announced or recently announced that they’re going to pay a minimum $15.00 per hour to contract workers, right? Yeah, to contract workers such as cafeteria staff and janitors just to deal with this minimum wage thing that’s going on. I mean, $15.00 is higher than pretty much everywhere else other than the one spot in Washington State.
NASIR: I don’t know if they’re at $15.00 yet. I think they will be or something but, yeah, you’re right.
MATT: What’s interesting about this is it’s raising the minimum hourly rate of contractors, contract workers, so not employees.
NASIR: Yeah, I thought that was strange too.
MATT: Contractors will receive a minimum of 15 days of paid vacation, $4,000 new child benefit for parents who don’t receive parental leave. Isn’t that, like…?
NASIR: Exactly. That’s why I think, when they say “contractors,” I think this article’s incorrect somehow.
MATT: It has to be – inc.com?
NASIR: No, I’m serious, because also they’re talking about lower paid workers regarding their janitorial staff and cafeteria. Like, okay, you could have a janitor or cafeteria workers in contractor status but, with Facebook having a campus and a building and they probably need something there on the full day, I don’t think that’s the case in this case so I still think they’re still employees.
MATT: Yeah, that was the first thing I noticed, too. Just the job they were performing, it seemed like it was an issue. This has to be employees, I guess.
NASIR: First of all, no contractor gets paid vacation or new child benefits, you know?
MATT: Well, we won’t dig too deep into that. If it’s the case that they are independent contractors, we’ll maybe talk about it. But this kind of connects to this company in Seattle. I guess Washington State really loves to treat peo...
