labor lawAdivision of labor law center

The minimum wage for tipped employees in North Carolina has been reduced to $2.13  per hour, for now, despite the increase in the state and federal minimum wage on July 24, 2008.

On July 24, both the federal and North Carolina minimum wages increased to $6.55 per hour. However, employees who earn at least $30 per month in tips can be paid less.

Until recently, the minimum wage for tipped workers in North Carolina was (more…)

On July 24, 2008 the North Carolina minimum wage will increase 40 cents from $6.15 per hour to $6.55 per hour when the federal minimum wage increases. On that date, the federal minimum wage will increase 70 cents,  from $5.85 per hour to $6.55 per hour.

That’s because North Carolina is one of a host of states that ties the state minimum wage to the federal rate. In 2007, the North Carolina minimum wage was $6.15 per hour. However, under state law, if the federal minimum wage is higher, the North Carolina minimum wage automatically increases, as well.

On the same day, (more…)

An announcement from the US Labor">Department of Labor stated that the nation’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., will comply with federal and North Carolina minimum wage laws by paying in excess of $33 million in back wages. This agreement is the result of what the US Department of Labor maintains are violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) made by Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by not properly paying overtime to employees who worked over 40 hours a week. The FLSA maintains that employees are entitled to overtime by law. This overtime must be paid at the rate of 1.5 times the employee’s standard pay rate. This overtime amount must be paid for every hour the employee works over 40 in a single week.

The violations by Wal-Mart were caused by how the chain calculated overtime pay. Overtime is to be calculated using the usual hourly rate received by the employee. The usual rate of the employee is to include premiums and incentives as well as base pay.

For example, if the base pay rate for employees is $6.00 per hour, yet these employees receive incentives and premiums that normally bring this amount to $7.00, then overtime should be calculated using the $7.00 rate.  Wal-Mart miscalculated overtime pay for 86,680 employees during the time period from February 1, 2002 through January 19, 2007. For this reason, the retail giant will pay these employees $33 million in back wages.

Victoria A. Lipnic, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment Standards, explains, “This settlement provides $33 million in back wages, plus interest, to Wal-Mart workers, and the company has taken corrective action to prevent this from happening again.”

Not only is Wal-Mart paying back wages, they also have to pay interest on this money. The interest they pay is to prevent future transgressions and will act as a deterrent. 

Labor law investigators have caught up with a tree-trimming firm that paid at least 2,500 workers below with minimum">minimum wage, and the company will have to pay nearly $2 million in back wages to about 2,500 employees.

The company, ABC Professional Tree Services of Houston, North Carolina, was found in violation of federal and North Carolina minimum wage laws. The amount it has greed to pay is $1,801,507.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao said the department would continue its push to see to it that employees get the proper pay. “We are pleased,” she added, “that we were able to help these workers get the back pay they deserve.”

Employees must get the minimum wage of $5.15 an hour for the first 40 hours, then be paid at time-and-a-half for any time after 40 hours. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) also requires that employers maintain proper records for time and payrolls.

The company is paying back wages to its North Carolina employees as well as to employees from Maryland, Virginia, Cincinnati, Maine, New York, Arkansas, Florida, Tennessee, Mississippi, New Jersey, Ohio, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Louisiana.

Some of the work involved cleanup at the site of Hurricane Katrina. The company cleans up around power lines and at sites of natural disasters, including hurricanes. The investigation of the firm grew out of the creation of a task force in 2006 involving the Labor Department and U.S. Attorneys from several states. Their goal is to check for and prosecute firms that violate federal labor laws in the Gulf Coast region, specifically violations by employers in hurricane regions. Katrina and Hurricane Rita were included in those investigations. The investigation in this case began when Labor Department officials received a tip from an employee. They discovered the company had violated the minimum wage law in 16 states, as well as the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Some new legislation is coming through the state legislature in title="Posts tagged with North Carolina">North Carolina that involves the minimum wage and those workers who earn it. For instance, there is a new bill in North Carolina, just recently introduced that would allow minimum wage workers to get education and training support to help them grow their careers. The bill was introduced by Rep. Curtis Blackwood, a Republicans from Union, North Carolina. To keep an eye out for it and its progress, look out for House Bill H1550.

Another recent bill introduced in the North Carolina House would increase the state minimum wage. Under the bill, introduced into the House by Rep. Alma Adams, a Democrat from Guilford, the North Carolina minimum wage would go up from its current spot of $6.15 per hour to a new minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. On top of that, the new law would make sure that every year following the North Carolina minimum wage would increase according to the rate of inflation in the state.

We have seen several states pass such an inflation measure and increase, and quite a few other states try to pass such a measure in their minimum wage laws and fail. Time will tell if the North Carolina bill here in question—called House Bill H1709—will pass in the North Carolinas house. But the North Carolina minimum wage is recently been set at $6.15 per hour, so it might be a stretch to say that it will be increased again. But I am no prognosticator, so I will not say either way.

But employers in the very least should have a new updated North Carolina minimum wage labor law poster from the last increase in the state, and wait and see before investing more money in new posters should the North Carolina minimum wage change again.