labor lawAdivision of labor law center

Most of the states in the country have established minimum wage laws at the state level, including Georgia.

The Georgia minimum wage is currently $5.15 per hour, although almost all employees in the state are entitled to $7.25 per hour under the federal minimum wage. 

However, not every state has a minimum wage. In fact, in Alabama and four other states (Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee), if an employee isn’t covered under the federal minimum wage, employers can legally pay that worker as little as $1.00 per hour. That’s assuming, of course, that a company could find an employer willing to work for so little. This is because those states have no minimum wage law.

With the recent increase, every Georgia employers should update his or her federal and Georgia minimum wage posters.

Because of this recent increase, Georgia employers and employers across the country must update their labor law posters. The law requires that whenever a change is made in any labor law, state of federal, companies must display the updates posters in a place where all employees have easy access. Failure to display these posters can result in fines and penalties.

However, even in those states, employees who are eligible for the federal minimum wage must be paid $7.25 per hour. The federal minimum recently increased by 70 cents from $6.55 to $7.25 per hour as part of the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007. That Act provided 3 increases in the federal minimum wage over three years. These 70 cent increases took place on July 24 in 2007, in 2008 and in 2009. 

Federal minimum wages are set by the FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938). The FLSA applies to all businesses with at least $500,000 in annual revenue and to employers engaged in interstate commerce. FLSA can also apply to individual (more…)

Employers in several states, including Mississippi, Colorado and Arizona, are required by law to use E-Verify to check every new employee’s documentation.

In Texas, Hawaii, Michigan and eleven other states, employers are strongly urged to use E-Verify.

Tax incentives are offered in some states, like Georgia, to employers that utilize E-Verify. Government employees, state contractors and sub-contractors are already required to use E-Verify by most states.

Many states are (more…)

The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit on September 25, 2008 against Houston-based CEMEX Inc. for overtime violations. The suit maintains that the company failed to pay $5 million in overtime to more than 2,000 drivers from eight states. The employees were drivers of ready-mix concrete trucks.

CEMEX, founded in Mexico in 1906, provides cement and other building supplies for the construction industry. The company’s website claims it employers more than 60,000 employees in 50 countries on 5 continents.

Affected employees of CEMEX worked in Texas, (more…)

In addition to releasing new regulations on combustible dust for many industries, OSHA just levied one of the largest worker safety fines in history, against a sugar refinery for violating the regulations.

OSHA issued citations with penalties totaling $8,777,500 against Imperial Sugar Co. and two affiliates. This is the third largest fine in OSHA history.

The fines are for violations at sugar plants in Port Wentworth, Georgia, and Louisiana. After the tragic February 7, 2008 explosion that claimed 13 lives at the Port Wentworth refinery near Savannah, 40 other employees were hospitalized. Three employees are still in the hospital. On rescue worker described the fiery scene “like walking into hell.”

Officials at the Gramercy, Louisiana plant should not have been surprised by the OSHA inspection. The agency has a history of inspecting other plants belonging to the same company, after a serious accident.

OSHA’s inspection showed that (more…)

The July 24, 2008 federal minimum wage increase affects employers in a number of states. Under the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007, the federal minimum wage increased by 70 cents from $5.85 to $6.55 per hour.

This increase affects most employers in states where the state minimum wage is lower than the new federal rate. Under federal law, when an employee is covered by both state and federal law, the employee is entitled to coverage under whichever law provides the greater benefit.

This means that if (more…)