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The federal minimum wage remains unchanged at $7.25/hr. However, various states will either increase or decrease their state minimum wages come January 1, 2010, whereas other states have elected not to change their current rate.

States that are increasing their minimum wage

Alaska
$7.75/hr. Effective January 1, 2010 the minimum wage must be at least fifty cents more than the federal minimum wage. Alaska Statutes, §23.10.065.

Connecticut
$8.25/hr. Effective January 1, 2010, the Connecticut minimum wage will increase from $8.00/hr to $8.25/hr. General Statutes of Connecticut, §31-58.

Kansas
$7.25. Effective January 1, 2010, Kansas’s minimum wage increases from $2.65/hr to $7.25/hr. Kansas General Statutes § 44-1203.

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On July 24, 2009, the federal minimum wage will increase from $6.55 per hour to $7.25 per hour. This increase is the third and final increase in a three phase process. In light of the impending increase, there are several issues of which employers must be aware to prepare for the change:

• Replace Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) minimum wage posters. Every employer of employees subject to the FLSA's minimum wage provisions must post, and keep posted, a notice explaining the Act in a conspicuous place in all of its business establishments, so as to permit employees to readily read it. Employers may access new FLSA minimum wage posters on the Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) website

• Double check payroll fail-safes. Fail-safes are devices or features in payroll systems that ensure employees are never paid below the minimum wage. When employees are paid on a fluctuating work week basis, a day rate basis, piece rate basis, or any other basis resulting in a fluctuating “regular rate,” employers must ensure that these employees are paid at least the minimum wage. Employers should check their fail-safes and re-program them so that they do not allow employees to be paid less than $7.25 per hour (or the relevant state minimum wage).

• Employers may also use fail-safes to ensure that deductions taken from employees’ pay, for a variety of reasons, do not take employees’ wage rates below minimum wage. Employers should re-program fail-safes to ensure that deductions are not made that would result in employees being paid less than the new federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour (or the relevant state minimum wage). 

• Check state minimum wage. Several states have established a minimum wage that is higher than the federal minimum wage. Employers are required to pay the higher required minimum wage, state or federal. Check the minimum wage for the states in which you do business, which may also increase, and make sure employees are paid accordingly.  See our previous post discussing state minimum wage increases in July 2009.

• Make sure employees earn enough in tips to qualify for the tip credit. Employees who receive more than $30.00 per month in tips may be paid less than the minimum hourly rate so long as each employee earns enough in tips to make up the difference between the wage paid and the federal minimum wage. Employers should double check to ensure that employees for whom the tip credit is used are earning enough in tips, combined with his or her direct wages of at least $2.13 per hour to equal the new minimum hourly wage. 

• Consider how the minimum wage increase affects full-time students and other groups of individuals paid special minimum wages. Full-time students employed in retail or service stores, agriculture, or colleges and universities may be paid special minimum wages. Employers hiring students may obtain a certificate from the DOL, which allows the student to be paid not less than 85 percent of the federal minimum wage. The DOL may also issue certificates allowing employment at wages below the minimum wage for apprentices, student learners, messengers, certain employees who receive tips, and workers with disabilities. If you have employees paid a special minimum wage, which is a percentage of the federal minimum wage, the special minimum wage rate must be adjusted to reflect the appropriate percentage of the increased federal minimum wage.

This blog entry was authored by Jamie Kitces.
 

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The federal minimum wage is set to increase to $7.25 on July 24, 2009. Additionally, 23 states will also increase the minimum wage for employers subject to state wage and hour laws. The majority of these increases take effect on July 24, 2009, but three states raise their minimum wage effective July 1, 2009.

In addition to noting the wage increase, employers should ensure that they are properly displaying a copy of the state’s current minimum wage poster in a conspicuous location in the workplace that notes the wage increase, even if the increase will not affect hourly employees at any particular workplace.

The following states have increased their state minimum wage:

Delaware
• $7.25/hr. effective 7/24/09

District of Columbia
• $8.25/hr. effective 7/24/09

Federal
• $7.25/hr. effective 7/24/09

Florida
• $7.25/hr. effective 7/24/2009

Idaho
• $7.25/hr. effective 7/24/09

Illinois
• $8.00/hr. effective 7/1/09

Indiana
• $7.25/hr. effective 7/24/09

Kentucky
• $7.25/hr. effective 7/1/09

Maryland
• $7.25/hr. effective 7/24/09

Missouri
• $7.25/hr. effective 7/24/09

Montana
• $7.25/hr. effective 7/24/09

Nebraska
• $7.25/hr. effective 7/24/09

Nevada
• If health benefits are available:
Effective 7/1/09 $6.55/hr (employers subject to the FLSA should see federal requirements)
• If the employer does not provide qualified health benefits:
Effective 7/1/09 $7.55/hr

New Jersey
• $7.25/hr. effective 7/24/09

New York
• $7.25/hr. effective 7/24/2009

North Carolina
• $7.25/hr. effective 7/24/09

North Dakota
• $7.25/hr. effective 7/24/09

Oklahoma
• $7.25/hr. effective 7/24/09

Pennsylvania
• $7.25/hr. (large employers) effective 7/24/09
• $7.25/hr. (small employers) effective 7/24/09

South Dakota
• $7.25/hr. effective 7/24/09

Texas
• $7.25/hr. effective 7/24/09

Utah
• $7.25/hr. effective 7/24/09

Virginia
• $7.25/hr. effective 7/24/09

Wisconsin
• $7.25/hr effective 7/24/09
 

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Last week Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md) introduced legislation that would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to establish a base minimum wage for tipped employees.  Continue reading on Littler's Washington DC Employment Law Update blog.

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Beginning July 1, 2009, every employer subject to Indiana's minimum wage law or any rule or order issued under that law, is required to post a poster providing employees with the following information: the current Indiana minimum wage; a description of an employee’s rights under the minimum wage law; and information regarding how an employee can obtain additional information from, or direct questions or complaints to, the Indiana Department of Labor. The poster is available free of charge from the Indiana Department of Labor.

This blog post was authored by Christopher Kaczmarek.

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Pursuant to an annual adjustment required by the Nevada Constitution, Governor Jim Gibbons has announced the 2009 minimum wage and overtime rates.

Nevada has a two-tiered minimum wage rate dependent on whether an employer offers qualifying health benefits. As of July 1, 2009, the minimum hourly wage for employees who receive qualified health benefits from their employer will be $6.55. For all other employees, the minimum wage will be $7.55 per hour.

In Nevada, employers must pay one and one-half times an employee's regular rate of pay when an employee: (1) is paid less than one and one-half times the applicable minimum wage rate and (2) works more than 40 hours in any workweek or more than eight hours in any workday, unless otherwise exempted by Nevada Revised Statutes 608.018. Therefore, effective July 1, 2009, the daily overtime may apply if the employee to whom qualifying health benefits have been offered by the employer is paid less than $9.825 per hour. For an employee who is not offered health benefits, daily overtime may apply if the employee is paid less than $11.325 per hour.

This blog entry was authored by Roger Grandgenett.

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The Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations has promulgated new regulations to address the 2008 amendments to the Missouri Minimum Wage Law. The new regulations follow a series of changes over the last several years to Missouri law concerning employee compensation. In November 2006, Missouri voters amended the Missouri Minimum Wage law by ballot initiative. See Mo. Rev. Stat. § 290.500 et seq. The amended law, effective January 1, 2007, increased Missouri’s minimum wage and provided for future increases (under its schedule, Missouri’s minimum wage increased to $7.05 January 1, 2009). The ballot initiative changed the law in other important, and possibly unintended ways, including use of language that resulted in rejection of most FLSA exemptions and alternative compliance calculations that had previously been followed in Missouri for decades. In Spring 2008, the Missouri legislature amended the Minimum Wage law to reintroduce certain principles of the FLSA. The Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations published regulations in September 2008, effective March 30, 2009, that address the amendments to the Missouri statute. Except as otherwise specified, the Missouri Department of Labor expressly adopts interpretations of the FLSA; federal regulations are incorporated into the new Missouri regulations by reference. 8 CSR 30-4.010. The Missouri regulations also include a new rule concerning the handling of administrative complaints and notice requirements. 8 CSR 30-4.060.

This blog entry was authored by KIMBERLY YATES.
 

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The Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor (DOL) recently released to the public three December 2008 opinion letters that addressed inquiries regarding FLSA exemption issues.

The first letter (FLSA2008-11) concluded that Assistant Athletic Instructors at an institution of higher education are exempt from the minimum wage and overtime requirements of the Act as bona fide professionals, since their primary responsibility (occupying more than 50% of their time) is teaching student-athletes.

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The start of a new year often brings with it changes in governing wage and hour legislation. Effective January 1, 2009, eleven states will increase the minimum wage for employers subject to state wage and hour laws. In addition to noting the wage increase, employers should ensure that they are properly displaying a copy of the state’s current minimum wage poster in a conspicuous location in the workplace that notes the wage increase, even if the increase will not affect hourly employees at any particular workplace.  The following states have increased their state minimum wage, effective January 1, 2009:

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For the past several years, plaintiffs have routinely sought punitive damages in their wage and hour actions under the California Labor Code. A December 3, 2008 decision by the California Court of Appeals for the Fourth Appellate District may put a stop to that practice.

The plaintiff in Brewer v. Premier Golf Properties sued her former employer for denying her meal and rest breaks, failing to pay her minimum wage for all hours worked, and not providing her with accurate itemized wage statements. The jury awarded the plaintiff $26,300 in unpaid wages and penalties and, after finding that the defendant employer had engaged in malice, awarded the plaintiff an additional $195,000 in punitive damages.

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