A new California law will require that most food-service workers get paid at least $20 per hour starting next year.
But hundreds of pizza delivery drivers in the Los Angeles area are about to discover Thomas Sowell’s famous adage that the true minimum wage is zero.
Pizza Hut announced Wednesday that it would lay off about 1,200 delivery drivers in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside counties, CBS News reported. Pizza Hut franchises are outsourcing delivery to third-party apps like GrubHub and UberEats as a cost-saving measure in advance of the new law taking effect.
The layoffs are likely to take effect in February, The Los Angeles Times reports, just weeks before the new, higher minimum wage hits.
California’s minimum wage for all workers is already $15.50, one of the highest wage floors in the country. The new $20 per hour minimum wage applies to all employees of fast-food chains with at least 60 locations in the country.