Tennessee’s New 2009 Minimum Wage Rate Requirements

Most Tennessee employers must pay the new minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, effective July 24, 2009.

The federal minimum wage was established under the The Fair Labor Standards Act or FLSA in 1938. This law made sweeping changes to the workplace. At that time, children of all ages worked alongside adults in mills, farms and factories, sometimes as many as 60 hours a week. The FLSA established child labor laws prohibiting children under the age of 14 from working in almost every job.

Another effect of the FLSA was the establishment of the federal minimum wage. On July 24, 2009, the federal minimum increased 70 cents from $6.55 to $7.25 per hour. This increase affected most of the employers in Tennessee because the state has no minimum wage law.

Under the FLSA, to be eligible for federal minimum wage, an employee must work for a company that earns at least $500,000 per year. FLSA also covers businesses that engage in interstate commerce. Individual workers engaged in interstate commerce are covered by FLSA, too.

For example, a buyer contacting an out-of-state vendor via email or by phone is engaged in interstate commerce, as is the shipping clerk who mails the packages to other states. These workers would be covered under the federal minimum wage. In truth, with companies selling on the Internet, sending emails and accepting credit cards, it’s rare that an employer doesn’t engage in interstate commerce.

Several states increased their state minimum wages in 2009, too. Washington, Oregon, and Florida enacted cost-of-living increases on January 1, 2009. On July 1, 2009, the Illinois state minimum rose 25 cents to $8.00 per hour, Kentucky’s minimum bumped to $7.25 per hour and Nevada’s minimum increased to $7.55 per hour. Maine’s minimum will increase to $7.50 per hour on October 1, 2009.

Most states in America have established a state minimum wage. Washington’s state minimum is the highest in the country at $8.55 per hour, followed closely by Oregon at $8.40 per hour.

Tennessee does not have a minimum wage; nor do Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Tennessee. In these five states, an employee not covered by the federal minimum can legally be paid as little as $1.00 per hour.