labor lawAdivision of labor law center

Under Colorado Minimum Wage Order 24, the state minimum wage increases by 17 cents from $6.85 to $7.02 per hour on January 1, 2008. Tipped employees must be paid at least $4.00 per hour, under the new law.

The Colorado minimum wage law is must more limited than similar laws in other states. The rate covers only retail and service industries including commercial support, food and beverage, and the health and medical industries.

Under the Colorado law, workers in those same industries are entitled to overtime after working 12 hours in a single day, or 40 hours in a week. The overtime rate is 1.5 times the usual hourly rate.

The previous Colorado minimum wage law has been in effect since January 1, 2007.

This is just the most recent in a series of changes to the Colorado employment laws. On January 1, 2007 Colorado Statute 8-2-122 went into effect. This was a tough new immigration law that requires every employer to make copies of the employee’s identification documents for the federal I-9 form, and keep them on file for the entire term of employment. In addition, every employer is required to complete a state affirmation within 20 days of hiring a new employee. The affirmation states that the employer did not knowingly hire an illegal alien, and that the employer has examined the worker’s documentation without altering it.

State laws governing overtime and the minimum wage for employees who receive tips differ greatly across the nation.

According to federal law any time worked over 40 hours per week is payable at one and a half times the worker’s normal hourly rate. This “overtime” covers the majority of workers in the country. Several states don’t have a state level statute, however, to cover overtime pay. In those states, if the employees aren’t covered by the federal law, they are probably not entitled to any overtime.

Nebraska, Illinois and a number of other states utilize the federal law and require employers to pay overtime for more than 40 hours of work per week. In Minnesota, state law considers anything over 48 hours to be overtime. Kansas overtime cut-off point is anything over 46 hours per week.

A few states also have laws in effect for the number of consecutive days worked. For example, in Kentucky any employee who works seven days in a row gets overtime pay for that seventh day–no matter how many hours have already been worked. Connecticut has a similar law, but it only applies to workers in hotels and restaurants.

California takes it a step further, guaranteeing overtime on the seventh day and after 8 hours on the seventh day requires employers to pay double the hourly salary, or double time.

For employees who receive tips as a part of their job, the federal law mandates an hourly rate of $2.13 per hour. Indiana and Kentucky mirror the federal law. Massachusetts law mandates a rate of $2.63 and North Carolina’s is $2.43 per hour.

In several states employers get only a little tip credit when paying tipped employees. Colorado’s minimum will increase to $4.08 in 2008. Hawaii allows businesses to pay $7.00 instead of the state minimum of $7.25 per hour, allowing a 25 cent tip credit.

Washington, however, gives no tip credit at all. State law in Washington requires companies to pay tipped employees the same as non-tipped employees. In 2008, that minimum wage will rise to $8.07 per hour.

Colorado employees are entitled to a 30-minute unpaid meal break free from all work duties on any shift of 5 hours or more. If the work situation makes this impossible, employees are entitled to eat a meal while on duty, and must be paid for this time. Employees are also entitled to a 10-minute paid break on each shift of 4 hours “or a major fraction thereof.”

Every employer must display a Colorado minimum wage poster prominently in an area frequented by all employees. A complete list of the state’s required labor law posters is at www.laborlawcenter.com.

 

 

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