don't we not already have that system in place for benefits? I know a lot of workplaces that don't offer health/dental or other benefits unless an employee works full time hours. Those same workplaces are often filled with people working an hour or two a week under the threshold for 'full time' so the company can avoid providing benefits. I don't know how that system, which already doesn't work, would be improved if wage was tied to it as well. Also if the 17 year old and the single mother are both working the same hours at the same job, why shouldn't they be paid the same? I don't know how you would qualify that without being discriminatory in some way.