Judge dismisses wage-hike suit

The New Mexican

    The last legal obstacle to Santa Fe’s minimum-wage ordinance has disappeared with the dismissal of a lawsuit filed last December by Heritage Home Healthcare.
    Heritage’s Albuquerque attorney, Paul Kennedy, said Friday that he couldn’t comment on the reason for the dismissal of the suit, which was filed in federal District Court in Albuquerque on Dec. 5. When it was filed, Paul Sonn, an attorney who represented the city in litigation arising from the minimum-wage ordinance, called the Heritage lawsuit “frivolous” and “a desperate delaying tactic” that was unlikely to ever go to trial.
    Kennedy said previously that the Heritage suit was intended “to illustrate the cruel and heartless nature of the (minimum-wage) ordinance,” which would compel Heritage to discontinue its care of home-bound Medicaid patients because the company couldn’t afford the mandated $9.50 per hour pay.
    Before filing the lawsuit, Heritage and another company, Professional Home Health Care, told the City Council that the $9.50 an hour mandated wage would cause them to go out of business in Santa Fe.