Kentucky Restaurant Association Kentucky Retail Federation Packaging Unlimited, LLC v. Louisville/jefferson County…

Summary

The court held that Louisville Metro exceeded its authority by enacting an ordinance requiring wages higher than the state minimum wage. It reasoned that Kentucky's wage statutes constitute a comprehensive statutory scheme and that the ordinance conflicts with the state minimum-wage statute by prohibiting what that statute permits. The court therefore reversed the Jefferson Circuit Court and remanded for entry of a consistent order. Justice Hughes concurred in the result on the comprehensive-scheme ground, while Justice Wright, dissenting, would have affirmed because the ordinance established a permissible wage floor rather than conflicting with state law.