Charging $100k/year wouldn’t be the change I’d make personally but would probably help with the excesses (I’d personally just abolish it, or mandate a minimum wage of 200k/y, or only allow it for unionised locations).

The thing I worry about with this change is that employers would still exploit the workers and pay them like $40k even if they have to hand $100k to the government for that privilege.

In other words, you’ve explained exactly why the kleptocrats prefer charging the $100k fee instead of setting a minimum wage: it accomplishes the racism and graft without the nasty side effect of empowering workers.