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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…)

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.

If my loyal readers would recall, the state of tagged with North Carolina">North Carolina increased its minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to $6.15 per hour. That is an increase of a dollar, nearly 20 percent up from its original level. This increase just recently went into effect, on this past January 1, and it affected as many as 139,000 workers in the state of North Carolina who make the minimum wage as their salary.

But as of this week, there is a movement in the state to increase the state minimum wage to $9.36 per hour. The movement is still in the petition mode. It is organized by a group out of Greensboro, North Carolina, calling themselves the Greensboro Minimum Wage Committee. There first move is to try and get their idea to increase the minimum wage to $9.36 per hour on the city ballot for this year’s election. According to my sources, though, it will take no less than 5000 signatures on their petition to get their minimum wage proposal on this year’s ballot.

Their argument, which is not uncommon among those who support the higher minimum wage, is that people need to make more from their employers in order to compensate for the costs of inflation, which increase costs on everyday items such as food, fuel, clothing, and entertainment.

My idea for you, North Carolina employers, especially those in the Greensboro area, is to keep an eye on this issue and see if this group does indeed get enough signatures to have the petition turned into a ballot initiative come November. In the meantime, you can make sure you are complying with the current law in the state of North Carolina, part of which includes making sure you have the latest and most up to date minimum wage labor law poster for North Carolina in all of your facilities and work sites.

Getting back to the point I made earlier in my previous blog post about how the North Carolina">North Carolina minimum wage is tied to the federal minimum wage, in that any increases to the federal minimum wage, when they go up higher than the current North Carolina minimum wage, will then become the de facto minimum wage for the whole state and most of its employers.

What will that mean now that the federal government might actually change the minimum wage of the land? Well, for the first year and a little more, the change wouldn’t mean too much for North Carolina employers. As we’ve seen in other states, sure, you guys would have to go out and buy new updated federal minimum wage labor law posters. And I hope you already got your new North Carolina minimum wage labor law posters to update your collection on your work site walls.

But as far as paid wages are concerned, the federal minimum wage would not increase above the North Carolina minimum wage, according to both the House and the Senate bills passed in Washington in January and awaiting compromise and a presidential signature before thy can become a law, until 2008. Sixty days after the President signs the bill into law, the federal minimum wage would increase to $5.85, below the North Carolina minimum wage.

A year after that, in 2008 as I said, then the federal minimum wage would go up to $6.55 per hour, which would be higher than the North Carolina minimum wage. And so in that case, the North Carolina minimum wage would then for all intents and purposes become $6.55 per hour. A year after that, when the law changed the federal minimum wage to $7.25, so too would the state of North Carolina’s minimum wage.