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North Carolina Federal Minimum Wage Alert

June 11th, 2007 Posted by Mark

Back in their 2006 session, the law makers of North Carolina passed a new minimum wage law that raised their state’s minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to $6.15 per hour. What is more, the North Carolina minimum wage law as it stands now also stipulates that that $6.15 per hour state minimum wage is not static. The North Carolina minimum wage could increase if the federal minimum wage increases. That makes for an interesting discussion here, as you might imagine from all the interesting discussions we’ve already had. But more on that in a moment.

The North Carolina minimum wage law as it stands now went into effect this past January 1, so that gives all of us employers in the state a chance to have already gotten ourselves a new North Carolina minimum wage poster. But as I intimated earlier, all of you folks might have to be getting yourselves a new one soon too. And I am not just talking about the new updated federal minimum wage poster.

Let me explain: the federal minimum wage is set to increase for the first time in nearly 10 years. It will happen in a few weeks, about six at this point, and when it does, the federal minimum wage will go from $5.15 per hour to $5.85 per hour. That amount will still be below the North Carolina minimum wage level of $6.15 per hour. But what happens in 2008? Then, the federal minimum wage will head up to $6.50 per hour, and in that instance, it will increase beyond what the North Carolina minimum wage level is.

And it will be then that the provision in the North Carolina minimum wage law—the one that says that the North Carolina minimum wage will increase to match any increases in the federal minimum w age—will go into effect. I am assuming that it will go into effect, too, as soon as the federal minimum wage changes. So in the middle of 2008, then, the North Carolina minimum wage will increase to match the federal minimum wage. And that brings me back to my original point. It will be then that the North Carolina employers will need to get themselves a new North Carolina minimum wage poster that shows this new increase.

But hold on, wait a minute. What will happen in 2009? Will employers need to get themselves another new North Carolina minimum wage poster? It is looking like a yes, when you consider that the federal minimum wage will go up again, from $6.50 per hour to $7.25 per hour. And again, that provision in the North Carolina minimum wage law will go into effect, and the North Carolina minimum wage will need to increase to keep pace with the federal minimum wage.

It will be at that moment, perhaps, that North Carolina employers will need another new North Carolina minimum wage poster to reflect those changes as well. Truth is, it will all depend on how the Tar Heel state designs its 2008 North Carolina minimum wage poster. If the 2008 poster includes info on the 2009 changes, then perhaps a new poster in 2009 will not be necessary. We will all have to wait with baited breath to see.

One thing, though, that we all surely do not have to wait and hold our breath for is the new federal minimum wage labor law poster. Though the new federal minimum wage will not directly affect employers in North Carolina in 2007, all of us still need the federal minimum wage poster now for display in all our work sites.