labor lawAdivision of labor law center

Like several other states in the U. S., Oklahoma ties its minimum wage to the federal minimum. Therefore, when the federal minimum wage increases from $6.55 to $7.25 per hour on July 24, 2009, Oklahoma’ s minimum wage will increase, too.

According to state law, the Oklahoma minimum wage increases when the federal minimum wage does. The Oklahoma statute doesn’t even contain a dollar amount, merely that the state adopts the federal minimum.

The Oklahoma minimum wage applies to companies with 10 or more employees at a single location.

In addition, according to the Oklahoma Department of Labor, the Oklahoma minimum wage applies to all employers with annual earnings over $100,000, regardless of the number of workers employed.

There are exceptions to the Oklahoma minimum wage law. For instance, employees in domestic service in private homes and volunteers in charitable and non-profit organizations are exempt. Others exempt from minimum wage include students under the age of 22, agricultural workers, newspaper carriers or vendors and feed store employees.

As with the federal minimum wage laws, salaried managers, most executives, outside salespeople and professional employees are exempt from Oklahoma state minimum law. For part-time employees, the exception applies only to those who work fewer than 25 hours per week.

In a little known exception to the Oklahoma state minimum wage law, employers with earnings less than $100,000 and fewer than 10 workers are legally permitted to pay employees as little as $2.00 per hour. Every worker over 18 years of age, however, must be paid at least $2.00 per hour.

Also excluded from the state minimum wage law are all employers who are covered by FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act), which is the main federal minimum wage law. Under FLSA, employers earning at least $500,000 per year, or engage in interstate commerce fall under the federal minimum wage laws.

Overtime pay isn’t addressed by any Oklahoma state law. Instead, employees are covered under FLSA. This federal law mandates employees be paid 1.5 times the usual hourly rate when they work over 40 hours in one workweek.

Oklahoma posters that outline the state and federal labor and employment laws need to be posted in the states’ workplace.  It is the employer’s responsibility to make sure they have the posters in an appropriate place – someplace visible in an area where all employees have access.  Possible places would be the employee work room, break room or mail room.  The employers also need to make sure the posters they have in their workplaces are up-to-date as labor and employment laws can change frequently, even yearly.

The posting requirements for Oklahoma posters are primarily meant to be beneficial to the employees because it gives them access to the information they need to know and understand their rights and responsibilities in the workplace.  The labor laws highlighted in the posters also often include information on the complaint process complete with which state and federal agencies they need to contact to file a grievance.

Employers can also benefit from this information, however.  They can use the posters to help them know what they need to do to uphold their employees’ rights.  The posters also serve as a great reference point if they have specific questions concerning certain laws – if they need to know in which situations the minimum wage laws don’t apply, they can find out by reading the information on the Oklahoma posters.

The Oklahoma posters need to display both state and federal labor and employment laws.  The state laws that employers should post include the following: Unemployment Insurance, Minimum Wage, the Discrimination Notice, the Child Labor Law and workers’ compensation.  Federal laws that need to be displayed are 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 and OSHA – Job Safety and Health Protection.

I am sure that you know how important labor laws are to both employees and their employer. Without labor laws, some companies could certainly take advantage of their employees by not paying adequate wages or forcing employees to work overtime without pay. In addition, these laws protect the employer as well. Labor laws in Oklahoma are like many other laws in other states. These laws encompass issues such as minimum wage, overtime, child labor and a host of other health and safety laws.

Labor laws in Oklahoma should be of interest to any person that lives and works within the state. I would encourage you to learn more about the laws that govern your place of work. For example, you might be interested to learn about the child labor laws in Oklahoma. This law states that a child must be 14 or 15 years of age before working. This law, however, does not cover children that work on a farm, children whose parents own a business or children who sell or deliver newspaper.

In addition, any minor under the age of 16, must file an employment certificate with the department. These children are not allowed to work more than three hours per school day and no more than eight hours on a non-school day. No child is allowed to work more than 18 hours in any one week. There are many unacceptable jobs that children are not allowed to do. These include jobs such as baking, cooking, frying, processing, demolition, mowing and construction.

There are many other labor laws in Oklahoma that pertain to all employees. These include laws about the current minimum wage and laws that govern overtime, breaks and payment of the two. Labor laws in Oklahoma protect both employees and their employers. It is important that both follow these guidelines and stay in compliance with the law.