Alabama’s New Minimum Wage: The Bottom Line

April 13th, 2007 Posted by Mark

Todd’s bill in Alabama would not have just set up a state minimum wage in Alabama for the first time in recent memory. It would also allow the Labor Department in the state of Alabama to investigate on and check up on employers to make sure they are paying the right minimum wage to employees.

This part of the bill supposedly caused some opponents in the House Commerce Committee some concern, according to my sources. These opponents of the bill were publicly quoted as saying that such overseeing by the Department of Labor would just make too much red tape and regulations for small employers in the state.

Other opponents wondered why the new state minimum wage was needed, when many employees in the state, they said, already enjoy a wage higher than the minimum wage. They also said that the federal minimum wage would probably soon be increased as well, so that would be the minimum wage increase for Alabama’s workers.

But supporters of the bill pointed to the fact that Alabama lawmakers had recently given themselves a 62 percent pay raise. That bill was recently passed, and supporters claimed that the state’s lowest paid workers should also then get a raise.

From the sources I have contacted for this story, however, such arguments did not seem to sway the debate. As I said the bill was sent down to a subcommittee, and it is not clear if the bill will make its way back up to the Commerce Committee. Even if it does, it would need to overcome this opposition there, to then have to be voted on again in the full House. The verdict—employers, I will still monitor the situation for you here, but don’t buy yourself a new Alabama minimum wage poster just yet.

Last 10 posts by Mark

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Posted in Alabama, Employment Laws, Minimum Wage, Wage and Hour

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