BY NICK BOWMAN
SEPTEMBER 27, 2019 @5:48 AM
Gravity Payments — the company known for its groundbreaking $70,000 minimum salary for its Seattle employees — expanded that offering to its Boise, Idaho offices.
The move was announced in Tuesday news release, putting its Boise employees on track to meet the $70,000 salary minimum by 2024.
Gravity first raised its salary minimum in Seattle to $70,000 in 2015, when its CEO Dan Price opted to cut his $1.1 million yearly pay down to $70,000 to fund the move.
“A lot of people said giving up a million dollar per year salary was an unreasonable sacrifice to pay a living wage,” Price said on Twitter. “It was worth it. I am proof of that. Any business making over a million in profit, any CEO making over a million should do it.”
In 2016, Price won a lawsuit filed by his brother and business partner, Lucas, alleging the CEO had violated his brother’s rights as a shareholder. In the year’s since, Price has garnered the attention of everyone from other CEOs, to Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang.
Gravity now boasts over 200 total employees. In the years since the $70,000 salary minimum, Price has pointed to an increase in employees who have had children, a 10 percent increase in employees who bought a home, and a doubling of 401k contributions.
“The worries of not being able to pay for something have disappeared,” a Gravity employee wrote recently. “I don’t have to make a choice between fuel or groceries. I don’t have to worry about an unexpected emergency.”
Source: https://mynorthwest.com/1530989/gravity-payments-seattle-70k-minimum-salary/