Maine Minimum Wage Changes: The Bottom Line (Cont.)

April 8th, 2007 Posted by Mark

Tipped employees or regular employees, when that new federal minimum wage passes (or if it does), they probably will not see an impact, and their employers probably will not see the impact either. That is because Maine’s minimum wage will be higher than the federal minimum wage, even after the new law passes, through 2009, when the federal minimum wage would go up to $7.25 per hour and then be higher than the Maine minimum wage.

But up until that point, the Maine employers paying the minimum wage to their employees will have to pay the Maine minimum wage. As is the case with labor law, employers in any given state must pay the higher of the two minimum wages when the state and the federal minimum wage are not the same. In the case of Maine at present, the federal minimum wage is $5.15 per hour and the Maine minimum wage is $6.75 per hour, so you can do the math and see that the Maine minimum wage is the one to be paid.

This holds true even for employers who are liable to follow the Fair Labor Standards Act. These employers also have to pay the higher Maine minimum wage, despite having to follow the other federal labor regulations contained in the Fair Labor Standards Act.

When and if the federal minimum wage goes up to $5.85 per hour in its three part increase, the Maine employers out there paying the minimum wage will still be required to pay the higher Maine minimum wage. And when the federal minimum wage goes up to $6.50 per hour sometime in 2008, as prescribed by both federal minimum wage bills in Congress at the moment, the Maine minimum wage would still be higher, and thus be the one that employers have to pay.

Last 10 posts by Mark

« Maine Minimum Wage Changes: The Bottom Line
Maryland Minimum Wage Changes »
Posted in Employment Laws, Maine, Minimum Wage, Wage and Hour

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