Never expected a scandal like this out of California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Yup, Newsom and Greg Flynn, the CEO of Flynn Restaurant Group, which owns more than 20 Panera locations in California are buddy-buddy. So it's no wonder California's Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act carved out a little exemption for "chains that bake bread and sell it as a standalone item."
Now Panera bread won't have to pay their employees the fast-food minimum wage. How convenient for them!
Just a tiny little side note here: Flynn attended the same high school as Gavin Newsom and has also "been involved in business dealings with the California governor." Flynn has donated a whopping $164,800 to Newsom's campaigns over the years.
Nothing to see here, folks, move it right along.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law that exempts Panera Bread from a new $20-an-hour minimum wage hike for fast food chains after the billionaire owner of several of the chain's locations donated to his campaign, according to a report.
In September, Newsom, a Democrat, signed into law a measure that raises the minimum wage of fast food workers from $16 an hour to $20 an hour.
But the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act (FAST Act) includes an unusual carve-out that exempts 'chains that bake bread and sell it as a standalone item,' according to Bloomberg News.
Newsom reportedly sought the exemption, which benefits among others Greg Flynn, the billionaire CEO of Flynn Restaurant Group, the company that owns some two dozen Panera Bread locations in the state.
Of course, Flynn says he had nothing to do with the exemption, while Newsome mentioned it's just "part of the sausage-making" in politics.
Yeah, I bet.
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