labor lawAdivision of labor law center

The Wisconsin minimum wage is currently $7.25 per hour, the same as the federal minimum wage.

 

In 2006, both the federal and Wisconsin minimum wages were $5.15 per hour. At that point, the federal minimum wage had less purchasing power than the $1.60 per hour minimum in the 1960s. To address this issue, the Fair Minimum Wage Act or FMWA was enacted in 2007. The FMWA set forth a series of three increases to the federal minimum wage, beginning in 2007 and ending in 2009.

 

The third and last increase occurred on July 24, 2009 and bumped the federal minimum from $6.55 per hour to $7.25 per hour. This increase will have an effect on most employers in Wisconsin.

 

Wisconsin is one of 28 states that currently have a minimum wage equal to the federal minimum wage. Those states include Alaska, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, New Hampshire, New York and Utah.

 

By contrast, there are 5 states with no minimum wage at all. Those states are Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, South Carolina and Alabama. Kansas has the dubious distinction of being the state with the lowest minimum wage, at $2.65 per hour.

 

Employees in Wisconsin are entitled to the Wisconsin minimum wage unless they are covered under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA).

 

The FLSA is the relevant law for the federal minimum wage and applies to companies earning at least $500,000 per year, and to employers and individual employees engaged in interstate commerce.

 

Interstate commerce is defined as doing business with other states, such as manufacturing goods for sale out-of state, buying goods from out-of state, and answering phone calls from out-of-state vendors. In addition a company that uses the Internet or accepts credit card or debit card for payments is considered to be engaged in interstate commerce.

 

It is rare to find a business that does not engage in interstate commerce, therefore, most of the employers in all states need to pay their employees the federal minimum of $7.25 per hour.

 

In a business that does not engage in interstate commerce, it is possible to have one or several employees who do. For example, a small restaurant earns less than $500,000 per year. It serves local customers and buys from local vendors. The cashier, however, accepts credit cards and out-of-state checks as payments. The cashier is engaged in interstate commerce and is entitled to the federal minimum wage.

 

A waiter or busboy in the same restaurant who doesn’t accept payments would not be engaged in interstate commerce and be eligible for the Wisconsin state minimum wage – which at this point, is the same amount.

 

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