labor lawAdivision of labor law center

On January 1, 2009 the New Mexico minimum wage will increase by $1.00, from $6.50 to $7.50 per hour. This is the largest increase for any state with the new year.

Under the New Mexico Minimum Wage Act, employers can pay just $2.13 per hour to employees who regularly and customarily receive tips of more than $30 per month. However, for any pay period in which the employee does not average  $5.37 per hour in tips, the employer must make up the difference in wages.

Like many states, the New Mexico minimum wage includes myriad exceptions, including exceptions for employees in domestic service in or about a private home, for federal employees, and for agricultural employees. Volunteers for educational, charitable, religious or nonprofit organizations are exempt from the New Mexico minimum wage laws. So are students working after school or on vacation.

A little-known and little-used provision of the law permits employers to pay workers under 18, who have not graduated from high school, less than the minimum wage.

The New Mexico minimum wage law also requires employers to pay overtime to workers when they put in more than 40 hours per week. Employees must be paid 1.5 times their usual hourly rate for overtime. The state law specifically exempts individuals performing investigative services for the federal government who are covered under the Fair Labor Standards Act or FLSA. However, those individuals are entitled to at least the federal minimum wage.

Under the new law, the minimum wage for overtime in New Mexico for most workers is $11.25 per hour, according to the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions.

Employees of cotton gins, and seasonal employees in some countries are exempt from the overtime provisions of the New Mexico minimum wage law.

The law also carries the usual exemptions from both minimum wage and overtime  for bona fide executives, administrators, professionals, superintendents and supervisors.  

Last 10 posts by Amelia

• Colorado Reduces Minimum Wage in 2010 - November 20th, 2009
• New Law Expands FMLA and NDAA for Military Families - October 30th, 2009
• California Approves Exempt Salary Reduction - October 16th, 2009
• 3 New Illinois Laws - October 9th, 2009
• New Definition of Disability - September 25th, 2009
• E-Verify Regulations - September 18th, 2009
• New USERRA Regulations - September 2nd, 2009
• E-Verify News - August 26th, 2009
• New Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Law - August 19th, 2009
• Louisiana Minimum Wage - August 3rd, 2009

1. Posted by: Mexico » Singapore central bank sets up swap facility with US Fed Reserve

   [...] Labor Law Center Blog » Blog Archive » New Mexico Minimum Wage …Under the New Mexico Minimum Wage Act, employers can pay just $2.13 per hour to employees who regularly and customarily receive tips of more than $30 per month. However, for any pay period in which the employee does not average $5.37 … [...]