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Activists Appealing Minimum Wage Lawsuit Dismissal

minimum wage rally
Demonstrators rally in support of a higher minimum wage

Fast food workers and civil rights groups are appealing the dismissal of a lawsuit challenging an Alabama state law blocking the city of Birmingham's plans to raise the minimum wage.

The plaintiffs appealed to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday.

Birmingham was poised to raise the minimum hourly wage in the city to $10.10 last year. But before the wage hike was implemented, the Alabama Legislature swiftly passed a law requiring a uniform state minimum wage.

The Alabama Chapter of the NAACP, Greater Birmingham Ministries and others filed the lawsuit. The complaint alleged the law violated workers' civil rights. It also claimed the law was pushed by white Republican legislators and disproportionately impacted black workers in the majority-black city.

U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor dismissed the lawsuit last month.

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