--- description: A Seattle-based firm will pay a minimum salary of $70,000 a year for all employees, regardless of their job title title: Seattle Business Owner Will Pay $70,000 Minimum Wage to All Employees image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltccaec615128d437c/6987eaf955a85919a4a898ec/dan-price.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Workplace & Careers](/tag/workplace-careers/) ## Workplace & Careers Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Seattle Business Owner Will Pay $70,000 Minimum Wage to All Employees ## Video: A History Of The Minimum Wage [Watch (HLS stream): A History Of The Minimum Wage](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/KFNoRaXc.m3u8) (3:56)  _Published 2014-02-28. See who raised the minimum wage and when throughout history._  by [Dan Kedmey](/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 14, 2015 1:40 PM CUT  Gravity Payments CEO Dan Price Gravity Payments CEO Dan PriceJose Mandojana for Gravity Payments  by [Dan Kedmey](/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 14, 2015 1:40 PM CUT A Seattle-based company will pay a $70,000 minimum wage to all employees, regardless of their job title, after the CEO read a [study](http://www.pnas.org/content/107/38/16489.full "undefined") that found pay hikes up to that threshold led to significant improvements in emotional well-being. Dan Price, founder and CEO of Gravity Payments, a credit card payment processing firm, stunned his employees with the generous minimum wage plan, which will ratchet up salaries over the next three years, the New York _Times_ [reports](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/14/business/owner-of-gravity-payments-a-credit-card-processor-is-setting-a-new-minimum-wage-70000-a-year.html "undefined"). Thirty of Gravity Payment’s 120 employees will see their salaries double over the next three years, while Price himself will take a pay cut from $1 million down to $70,000 a year, or minimum wage by his standards. [Read more at the New York _Times._](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/14/business/owner-of-gravity-payments-a-credit-card-processor-is-setting-a-new-minimum-wage-70000-a-year.html "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3820935/seattle-business-owner-70000-minimum-wage/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3820935/seattle-business-owner-70000-minimum-wage/"},"headline":"Seattle Business Owner Will Pay $70,000 Minimum Wage to All Employees","datePublished":"2015-04-14T13:40:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:22:51.131Z","description":"CEO will take nearly $930,000 pay cut to help fund the raises","url":"https://time.com/3820935/seattle-business-owner-70000-minimum-wage/","keywords":["Workplace & Careers","Money"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltccaec615128d437c/6987eaf955a85919a4a898ec/dan-price.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Kedmey","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltccaec615128d437c/6987eaf955a85919a4a898ec/dan-price.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"dan-price","caption":"Gravity Payments CEO Dan Price","creditText":"Jose Mandojana for Gravity Payments","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/workplace-careers/","name":"Workplace & Careers"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3820935/seattle-business-owner-70000-minimum-wage/","name":"Seattle Business Owner Will Pay $70,000 Minimum Wage to All Employees"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"A History Of The Minimum Wage","description":"See who raised the minimum wage and when throughout history.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/KFNoRaXc/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-02-28T17:21:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/KFNoRaXc.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3820935/seattle-business-owner-70000-minimum-wage/","duration":"PT3M56S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3820935/seattle-business-owner-70000-minimum-wage/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```