Missouri Supreme Court upholds St. Louis minimum wage law; will be $11 by 2018

Its unanimous opinion ruled that a 2015 ordinance does not conflict with the state’s minimum wage of $7.65 an hour.

In 2015, both St. Louis and Kansas City made headway on increasing the minimum wage. St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay signed his city's legislation in August of that year; a Kansas City group, disappointed with its City Council, got a measure to set the minimum wage at $15 by 2020 on last November's ballot.

Then, the courts stepped in. St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Steven Ohmer struck down the St. Louis law hours before it was supposed to take effect. A different judge had Kansas City's measure removed from the ballot. Both courts ruled that cities were blocked by the Missouri Constitution from requiring minimum wages higher than what's set by state law.

The state Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that Kansas City's measure must get a vote, but did not address the issue of whether it conflicted with Missouri law. The judges rejected that argument in Tuesday's opinion, ruling that cities have the right to order businesses to pay a higher minimum wage.

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