labor lawAdivision of labor law center

Every Florida employer needs to understand that in 2007 a number of changes to the labor laws were made. In 2007, for the first time in ten years, the federal minimum wage was increased from $5.15 to $5.85 per hour as a result of the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007. At least ten states increased their state minimum wage on the same day.

It is crucial for every employer in the state to update their Florida labor law posters for 2008 as a result of these changes.

The Florida Labor Law Posters that every employer is required to display are:

• New Florida Minimum Wage
• Discrimination
• Anti-Fraud Notice
• Workers’ Compensation
• Unemployment Insurance
• “Equal Opportunity is the Law”
• Child Labor Laws

With the change to the Florida minimum wage on January 1, 2008, it’s particularly important that posters be updated.

In addition, employers are required to display the following posters by federal law:

• USERRA - Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act
• Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law
• Federal Minimum Wage
• Employee Polygraph Protection Act
• Family and Medical Leave Act
• OSHA-Job Safety & Health Protection

Many labor law poster changes throughout the nation related to minimum wage increases this year, or next year. West Virginia and Illinois will increase their minimum wages on July 1, 2008. Illinois’s current minimum will jump from $7.50 to $7.75, and West Virginia’s will go up from $6.55 to $7.25 per hour.

On July 24, 2008, the new federal minimum wage of $6.55 will be introduced. States like Texas, Nebraska and others that tie their state minimum wage to the federal minimum wage will bump up their state minimum wage.

Several states including Washington, Oregon, New Mexico and others established laws that provide an annual cost-of-living increase for the state minimum wage. States often tie this increase to the Consumer Price Index for urban and clerical workers. Florida just recently passed such a law and will apply their first “cost of living” raise on January 1, 2008, bumping the current wage from $6.65 to $6.79 per hour.

The rank of highest state minimum wage goes to Washington at $8.07 as of January 1, 2008. California and Massachusetts aren’t far behind each with $8.00 per hour. Oregon’s wage ranks in the top five with $7.95 per hour.

There’s not much difference among the state minimum wages in the top five, but the difference across the country is amazing. The state minimum wage in Kansas hasn’t budged since the 1980s, and ranks as the lowest at $2.65.

But Kansas isn’t the real bottom of the range. That honor belongs to Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee and South Carolina, which don’t have a state minimum wage at all. That means an employer not covered by the federal minimum wage can pay–by law–its workers whatever it wants, even as low as 25 cents an hour. Of course, it’s doubtful anyone would take a job at that wage, but the legal capability exists.

The New Year will bring more changes which will require employers to change labor law posters. Restaurants, bars and casinos and practically every other work environment in Illinois will enact a tough new law banning smoking.

As a result of these changes, companies need to take the time to update their labor law posters by the end of this year. Failure to update the posters with the new information can result in a fine for the employer.

The most common reason for employers to update posters includes statute changes, especially to minimum wage laws. In just the past few months, employers in New Hampshire, Nevada and Maine have updated their labor law posters as the state minimum wages changed. The most recent increase was on October 1, 2007 when the New Hampshire minimum wage increased to $6.50 per hour.

Whether it’s seniority status, promotions, or pay, you as a veteran coming home from active duty are entitled to them when you return to your old job. The law, in fact, requires that employers reemploy you when you return. What’s more, if your skills have lagged behind the times in your absence, your old employer must retrain you. If that’s not possible, you’re entitled to reemployment I another position.

These guarantees are all part of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 – USERRA, for short. It outlines the regulations and enforces those rules on behalf of veterans, National Guard members, and members of the Reserve.

The U.S. Department of Labor recently issued final USERRA regulations recently. The latest regulations apply to pension plans for returning veterans.

Employers must by law update their Florida USERRA posters to reflect new changes so those changes are on display for all workers. Florida USERRA posters must be displayed whether or not an employer’s workforce includes veterans.

Under what is called the “escalator principle,” you as a returning veteran have the right to be reinstated to your old job if your military service was 5 or fewer years. The years need not have been served consecutively. Some veterans who were injured are eligible for up to 7 years.

Reinstatement must come with the pay hikes, status, and seniority that would have been yours if you had never left for military duty. That includes promotions. Employers must upgrade your skills or reemploy you in an alternative job slot.  It’s as if you had been on leave for disability, or on maternity leave. You are entitled to the same benefits that would be extended under those conditions.

Why is it called the “escalator principle”? Imagine your career, with its advancements and increasing benefits, as an escalator ride. If you must “get off” the escalator to serve in the military, you are entitled to return to the same ‘step” on the escalator, even though it had advanced upward.

If you are a Florida employer, it’s time to make sure that your Florida minimum wage poster is updated. As you probably know, the state minimum wage increased on January 1, 2007. The current minimum wage is $6.67 per hour. This rate applies to all hours worked in Florida, with few exceptions.

The increase of 27 cents over the 2006 Florida minimum wage of $6.40 per hour is based on an amendment to the Florida constitution that was approved by voters on November 2, 2004. The constitution requires that the minimum wage be adjusted each year. The increase, calculated by the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation, is based on the federal Consumer Price Index (CPI) for urban wage earners and clerical workers in the South Region. The CPI for the year ending August 31 is used to calculate the following year’s increase.

The Florida minimum wage law covers all employees in the state who are covered by the federal minimum wage. In Florida, as in many states, there are exceptions for tipped workers, and for some occupations such as agricultural workers.

Section 448.109, Florida Statutes, requires that employers who must pay their employees the Florida minimum wage to post a minimum wage notice in a conspicuous and accessible place in each establishment where such employees are employed. This poster requirement is in addition to the federal requirement to post a notice of the federal minimum wage. Given Florida’s high number of Hispanic workers, the Agency for Workforce strongly recommends that posters in both Spanish and English be displayed.

The vast majority of Florida workers earn more than the state minimum wage. Any employee who is not paid at least the state minimum wage of $6.67 per hour can sue the employer in court for a violation of the Florida minimum wage law. In some cases, the State Attorney General may bring an enforcement action to require payment of wages at least equaling the minimum wage.

Employers in Florida, you have been warned. The Florida Minimum Wage Poster is about to change, thanks to new minimum wage regulations in the sunshine state. The new Florida Minimum Wage Poster will show that the new minimum wage in the state will be going up to $6.67 per hour, effective January 1, 2007.

The new wage in the Florida Minimum Wage Poster will represent a 27 cent up tick from 2006’s minimum wage rate, which is $6.40 per hour. The new minimum wage was brought about by a constitutional amendment, which Florida voters OKed at the ballot box on November 2, 2004. The new wage increase covers all employees in Florida, including those covered by the federal minimum wage, which is only $5.15.

The law also includes a fact of yearly change for the Florida Minimum Wage Poster. The Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation will now, because of the law, perform an annual calculation, which will come up with the new minimum wage every year. The calculation will be based upon the Federal Consumer Price Index, or CPI.

Some of the new Florida Minimum Wage Poster, though, will still be based in federal law. When it comes to what employers, employee, and wage mean, it will be taken from the definitions in the federal Fair Labor Standards Act/

For tipped employees, the new Florida Minimum Wage Poster will also change the way that they are treated. Florida employers can pay these tipped employees a direct hourly wage of $3.65 per hour, compared to the $6.67 per hour for other employees, starting again on January 1, 2007.

Employees who don’t get the right new wage can bring their employers to court, or the state attorney general can come after employers on his or her own. And yes, employers can get into trouble too if they don’t follow Section 448.109 of the Florida Statutes, which states that employers must post the Florida Minimum Wage Poster in an accessible place.

We’ve covered a lot of ground when it comes to the many state posters across this country, from Alabama to Wyoming, Alaska to Florida, and even into the U.S. territories of the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. But what we haven’t devoted enough time to are the developments coming out of Washington D.C. In other words, we haven’t looked close enough at the Department Of Labor Posters.

There are six mandatory Department Of Labor Posters in the United States. These posters, like the state posters, must be posted in employers work sites across the Union with few exceptions. The Department Of Labor Posters must be located in a work site where all employees have access to them on a regular basis. And the Department Of Labor Posters must be changed and updated when necessary.

The main six Department Of Labor Posters include the USERRA posting. This posting specifically deals with employees who are members of the American armed services. For instance, the posting explains what responsibilities to them that their employers must have when they are called up to active duty.

Another on the main six Department Of Labor Posters includes the Family and Medical Leave Act posting, which explains how national law allows employees to take up to six weeks time off from work, nonpaid, for medical reasons for themselves, or for issues of a sick family member.

The third main posting in the Department Of Labor Posters that we’ll consider is the federal minimum wage act, which explains how the federal minimum wage throughout the country is $5.15. Of course, in certain instances, state minimum wages supercede the federal wage, but where the Fair Labor Standards Act applies, then so does the federal minimum wage.

The other the three Department Of Labor Posters include the Equal Employment Opportunity posting, the Polygraph Protection Act, and the OSHA workplace safety rules and regulation posting.