Election Results

We’ll let the major media talking heads comment on most of the big races and results across the country from Tuesday’s midterm elections while we highlight some of the issues and results that might be of greater concern to franchisees and other small business owners. That said, we note that once again, the results were…

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CPI Pushes Minimum Wages Higher

One unanticipated repercussion of the ongoing 40-year high level of inflation is the impact it is having on automatic minimum wage rates in a number of states.  Most recently, three states announced that new minimum wage rates for 2023 will be higher than they had previously anticipated. With minimum wage rates tied to the Consumer…

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An Update on Minimum Wages

Legislation has been approved by the Hawaiian Senate – and a slightly different version was given preliminary approval in the House – both of which will kick up the minimum wage in the Aloha State to $18/hour over the next few years. Currently, the state minimum is $10.10 per hour, but that will change rather…

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Keeping an Eye on Minimum Wages

As we move closer to the New Year, we’ll focus more attention and provide you with details on upcoming increases in state minimum wages across the country. In the meantime however, we want to keep you abreast of some of the wage trends and initiatives we’re still seeing around the country. We told you a…

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Arizona Civil Rights Expands in 10 Days

Pregnant workers in Arizona will see their civil rights expanded on July 19, when new changes to the Arizona Civil Rights Act take effect. Back in February, Governor Doug Doucey signed House Bill 2045, amending the Arizona Civil Rights Act to mirror existing protections under the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, which amended Title…

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COVID Capacities Increasing

Following more slowly on the trend set by Texas and Mississippi when last week they removed all COVID related restrictions and shutdowns, a number of states this week have further relaxed their COVID related mandates on businesses operating at a percentage of full capacity. Specifically, the states of Arizona and Maryland have each announced that…

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When Is $1 Million not $1 Million?

For a number of years recently, the idea of imposing an additional tax on incomes over $1 million was all the rage across the political landscape. A handful of states – notably California in 2012, followed by Connecticut and New York along with Washington DC were quick to impose the new tax on “millionaires”. More…

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Ballot Questions Abound

Aside from the Presidential, Senatorial and Congressional elections on the ballot on Tuesday, there are also a broad array of ballot questions that may have a significant impact on business interests – now and/or in the future across the country. We want to highlight a few of these for you. We’ve advised you in past…

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What’s Brewing: Jobs Recovery, COVID-19 Regulations, Employee Health, Wage Hikes

It was never easy running a quick-service franchise. But over the past few months, the lives of Dunkin’ franchise owners have gotten infinitely more complicated. Franchisees already had their hands full before the coronavirus crisis hit keeping customers happy, keeping employees satisfied, and keeping bottom lines healthy—all while negotiating the challenges posed by various federal,…

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