Watch out, West Coast metros: This Catholic school is paying more than you

Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles have new competition as to who’s paying the highest minimum wage.

Pittsburgh’s Duquesne University just approved a $16 minimum wage for all campus workers that takes effect in July – quickly outpacing the $15 an hour that the liberal West Coast metropoli are phasing in over several years.

The Catholic school said it’s also giving all employees making under $34,000 “an extra .5 percent increase,” as well as a $500 university contribution into “employee dependent-care flexible spending accounts.”

The school paid its employees a minimum of $15 an hour this school year. It said with benefits, the effective minimum wage would actually be $22 come July.

The Associated Press reported the minimum wage increase comes as Duquesne “battles its part-time faculty’s vote to form a collective bargaining unit.” The National Labor Relations Board is “expected to rule soon” on the dispute.

Read the Duquesne release and AP story.

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