Minimum wage laws across the country are changing. Although the federal minimum wage for covered, nonexempt employees is $7.25 an hour (and has been since July 2009), 22 states increased their minimum wages for 2015. The new minimum wages range from a low of $7.50 an hour in Arkansas to a high of $9.47 an hour in Washington. Many of the states have implemented new rates or rules for tipped employees as well.
Below is a map of the 29 states with minimum wages above the federal minimum wage.
The District of Columbia also has a higher minimum wage than the federal rate. The Department of Labor website maintains a state-by-state listing of minimum wages, so if you have employees is a number of states, you should check.
None of the new state laws increase the minimum wage to the new federal contractor rate. As you may recall, in February 2014 President Obama signed Executive Order 13658 establishing a minimum wage of $10.10 per hour for workers on federal construction and service contracts. The Department of Labor issued the regulations implementing the federal contractor minimum wage in October and the rate became effective January 1, 2015.
So, if you have minimum wage employees in other states, check to be sure you did not unintentionally give them a raise.
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