Oklahoma Minimum Wage Increase

June 15th, 2009 Posted by Madison

Like several other states in the U. S., ties its to the federal minimum. Therefore, when the increases from $6.55 to $7.25 per hour on 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 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.

 

Mandatory Labor Law Postings for Oklahoma Employers

September 11th, 2006 Posted by Hannah

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 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, , Employee Polygraph Protection Act, Family and Medical Leave Act and OSHA – Job Safety and Health Protection.