When quick meals eating places throughout California have to start out paying employees $20 per hour on April 1, one main chain shall be exempted from the mandate—and it simply so occurs to have a connection to a longtime buddy and donor to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Panera Bread is poised to get a lift from a weird clause within the fast-food minimal wage legislation that exempts “chains that bake bread and promote it as a standalone merchandise,” Bloomberg stories, including that “Newsom pushed for that break, based on individuals accustomed to the matter.”
That is from Eric Boehm, “Why Is Panera Exempted From California’s New Minimal Wage Legislation?” Cause, February 28, 2024.
And Newsom type of admits, in his sleazy approach, that he did a buddy a favor:
Requested instantly concerning the bakery exemption at a press convention final 12 months, Newsom mentioned it was “a part of the sausage making” of the legislative course of. “We went backwards and forwards, and it was a part of the negotiation,” he added.
Fortuitously, Bloomberg was on it:
Bloomberg‘s reporting suggests it was one thing Newsom sought in these negotiations: The bakery carve-out “was adopted as a way of successful the governor’s help for the laws, mentioned an individual with data of the discussions. The rationale was the governor’s longstanding relationship with a Panera franchisee, the particular person mentioned.”
