labor lawAdivision of labor law center

The Connecticut minimum wage went up from $7.65 an hour to $8.00 an hour on January 1, 2009. That represents a hike of 35 cents per hour.

In Connecticut, the minimum wage is not linked to increases in the cost of living, as it is in some other states. Instead, it is voted as part of state law.

Some of the states where the minimum wage follows the inflation rate are Washington, Oregon, Vermont, and Florida.  By contrast, New Mexico, like Connecticut, increases its minimum wage rate by statute. In New Mexico, the state minimum wage increased from $6.50 to $7.50 an hour on January 1, 2009, a hike of $1 per hour – by far the highest of the new year.

As in many other states, administrative, executive, and professional employees are exempt under the Connecticut state overtime and minimum wage laws. The relevant law in this case is Section 31-60-14,15,16 of the Administrative Regulations.

There is also an exception under the Connecticut minimum wage for minors working in agriculture or government. They are entitled to a reduced minimum wage that amounts to $6.80 per hour. In other words, they are only entitled to 85% of the state’s minimum wage. Minors working (more…)

The Connecticut minimum wage will increase by 35 cents from $7.65 to $8.00 per hour on January 1, 2009.

The Connecticut minimum wage increase is statutory, meaning it was voted as part of state laws, rather than being a cost-of-living increase. A number of states, including Florida, Vermont, Washington and Oregon increase the minimum wage each year to adjust for inflation. Connecticut does not.

The state minimum wage is being increased by statute in New Mexico, as well as Connecticut. In New Mexico, the minimum wage will go from $6.50 to $7.50 per hour on January 1, 2009.

The Connecticut minimum wage will increase again, from $8.00 to $8.25 per hour, on January 1, 2010.

A little-known provision of Connecticut law permits (more…)

In a surprise move on May 27, Governor Rell vetoed a bill that would have increased the Connecticut minimum wage beginning in January 2009.

The unexpected veto to House Bill 5105 by Governor M. Jodi Rell kills a plan to raise the state minimum wage from the current level of $7.65 per hour to $8.00 in 2009 and $8.25 in 2010. A related act, Senate Bill 55, that would have increased the tip credit, was also vetoed.

The Connecticut minimum wage bill passed both the House and Senate with large majorities. The vote was 106 to 45 for the bill in the House. The Senate passed the proposed increase by more than a 2-to-1 margin, with 25 for the measure and only 11 votes against it.

It’s entirely possible that the Governor’s veto will be overturned by the legislature. In order to overturn the Governor’s veto, proponents of the bill would require 101 votes in the House and 24 votes in the Senate. If the General Assembly considers this measure in a special session, and there are no defectors, they will overrule the veto. (more…)

A North Stonington, Connecticut substance abuse facility has been ordered to pay more than $1 million in back wages to satisfy a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor. In the suit, the U.S. Department of Labor claims that Stonington Behavioral Health Inc. failed to pay 143 employees for the time they worked, under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act or FLSA.

In addition, the suit also named Stonington Behavioral Health, Inc.’s parent companies, Universal Health Services of Pennsylvania and UHS of Delaware, Inc. The violations occurred at the Stonington Institute rehab facility.

An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division uncovered underpayments to more than one hundred employees who worked with substance abuse patients. The employees lived in the company’s “sober houses” where recovering patients were housed. According to investigators, the employees were regularly required to work additional unpaid hours.

At issue were hours that the employees were required to be available on duty in the house, but which they were not paid for. Under federal law, an employee in a residential facility who is not free to leave the premises is considered to be working.

Stonington required that employees remain available to patients and on the premises, even during hours when they were “off.” According to sources at the U.S. Department of Labor, the company failed to record all the hours worked by the employees. Under the FLSA, companies have an obligation to keep accurate payroll records, to pay employees for all hours worked, and to pay overtime when an employee works more than 40 hours per week.

“Among this department’s highest priorities is making sure that workers are paid all the wages they have earned,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao. “In this case we have recovered more than $1 million in back wages for 143 employees.”

The defendants agreed to the consent judgment without admitting any wrongdoing, which resolves the matter. Under this judgment, the defendants, including Stonington Behavioral Health, Inc. agreed to pay a penalty of almost $50,000 plus $1,075,218 in back wages for the period covering July 1, 2004 to July 1, 2006.

The payments for wages and overtime totaling $1,075,218 average about $7,519 per employee.  They must be paid no later than September 5, 2007. In addition, the companies have already paid $49,156 in civil penalties.

The judgment was filed in March by the Regional Solicitor’s Office in Boston, in a U.S. District Court for Connecticut. It was signed by Judge Janet Bond Arterton. As part of the judgment, the defendants are prohibited from violating the federal minimum wage, overtime and record-keeping laws in the future.

This announcement comes in the wake of a number of successful suits by the U.S. Department of Labor for overtime and minimum wage violations. In one recent example, nearly 2,600 workers who cleaned up and renovated two naval facilities in the wake of Hurricane Katrina were awarded $1.5 million in back wages. The affected workers were hired by federal contractors and subcontractors to complete work on military facilities in Gulfport, Mississippi and Belle Chasse, Louisiana.  

In that case, the employees worked for one of 107 sub-contractors hired by KBR, Inc. of Virginia. The companies involved failed to pay wages and benefits required under federal contracts. In most cases, federal contractors and their sub-contractors must pay the “prevailing wage” in an area. This means they are required to pay a rate that is often significantly higher than the minimum wage. In some cases, the companies involved also failed to pay overtime wages. The U.S. Department of Labor is still searching for some of those workers, to make sure that they receive the money they are owed.

If you are an employer that frequently expects your employees to work for more than 40 hours a week, you should take care that you do not violate the federal and Connecticut overtime laws.

The US Dept of Labor brings employers attention to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) which covers how employees should be paid when they work over 40 hours per week.

According to the FLSA, employees who work more than 40 hours per week are entitled to overtime payments of 1.5 their normal hourly rate, for each hour they work over 40 hours. But problems can occur when employers do not take employee incentives into account when calculating overtime payments.

This is what happened to Wal-Mart, Inc., and the US Dept of Labor recently announced that the company has agreed to pay more than $33 million in back wages to employees, to comply with the federal and Connecticut minimum wage laws.

It was found that Wal-Mart violated the Connecticut overtime laws. The company did not take incentive or premium payments into account when calculating over time payment for many of its employees over a period of time from February 1, 2002 and January 19, 2007.  The back payments that Wal-Mart has agreed to pay effect around 86,680 employees.

According to the Fair Labor Standards Act, if an employees’ basic rate is $6.00 per hour, but with incentives they usually earn $7.00, then the overtime payment should be calculated on 1.5 times the $7.00 per hour and not the $6.00 per hour basic. Wal-Mart calculated the overtime payments on the basic hourly rate, and did not take incentives into account.

The Dept of Labor files a compliant against Wal-Mart in the US District Court. This covered the violation of the FLSA overtime payment provision, as well as infringements of the state minimum wage laws. 

Wal-Mart has agreed to pay not only the back wages, but also interest on the money.