labor lawAdivision of labor law center

Every Kansas employer needs to update his or her federal minimum wage poster. On July 24, 2009, the federal minimum wage increased from $6.55 per hour to $7.25 per hour, an increase of 70 cents.

The Kansas minimum wage is $2.65 per hour. Kansas currently has the lowest minimum wage of any state, although there are 5 states that do not have a minimum wage at all. They are Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee and South Carolina.

This change affects most employers in Kansas.

The federal minimum wage is governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. FLSA covers employers with annual earnings of at least $500,000, and companies who engage in interstate commerce.

With advanced technology of the Internet, communicating via emails, and accepting credit cards for payment, the majority of Kansas businesses are engaged in interstate commerce. Even if the company doesn’t engage in interstate commerce, an individual employee within the company may, and would be covered by FLSA.

For example, a buyer for a retail store (more…)

The Wisconsin minimum wage is currently $7.25 per hour, the same as the federal minimum wage.

In 2006, both the federal and Wisconsin minimum wages were $5.15 per hour. At that point, the federal minimum wage had less purchasing power than the $1.60 per hour minimum in the 1960s. To address this issue, the Fair Minimum Wage Act or FMWA was enacted in 2007. The FMWA set forth a series of three increases to the federal minimum wage, beginning in 2007 and ending in 2009.

The third and last increase occurred on July 24, 2009 and bumped the federal minimum from $6.55 per hour to $7.25 per hour. This increase will have an effect on most employers in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin is one of 28 states that currently have a minimum wage equal to the federal minimum wage. Those states include Alaska, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, New Hampshire, New York and Utah.

By contrast, there are 5 states with no minimum wage at all. Those states are Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, South Carolina and Alabama. Kansas has the dubious distinction of being the state with the lowest minimum wage, at $2.65 per hour.

Employees in Wisconsin are entitled to the Wisconsin minimum wage unless they are covered under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA).

The FLSA is the relevant law for the federal minimum wage and applies to companies earning at least $500,000 per year, and to employers and individual employees engaged in interstate commerce.

Interstate commerce is defined as doing business with other states, such as manufacturing goods for sale out-of state, buying goods from out-of state, and answering phone calls from out-of-state vendors. In addition a company that uses the Internet or accepts credit card or debit card for payments is considered to be engaged in interstate commerce.

It is rare to find a business that does not engage in interstate commerce, therefore, most of the employers in all states need to pay their employees the federal minimum of $7.25 per hour.

In a business that does not engage in interstate commerce, it is possible (more…)

Most Tennessee employers must pay the new minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, effective July 24, 2009.

The federal minimum wage was established under the The Fair Labor Standards Act or FLSA in 1938. This law made sweeping changes to the workplace. At that time, children of all ages worked alongside adults in mills, farms and factories, sometimes as many as 60 hours a week. The FLSA established child labor laws prohibiting children under the age of 14 from working in almost every job.

Another effect of the FLSA was the establishment of the federal minimum wage. On July 24, 2009, the federal minimum increased 70 cents from $6.55 to $7.25 per hour. This increase affected most of the employers in Tennessee because the state has no minimum wage law.

Under the FLSA, to be eligible for federal minimum wage, an employee must work for a company that earns at least $500,000 per year. FLSA also covers businesses that engage in interstate commerce. Individual workers engaged in interstate commerce are covered by FLSA, too.

For example, a buyer contacting an out-of-state vendor via email or (more…)

Effective July 24, 2009 when the federal minimum wage increased from $6.55 per hour to $7.25 per hour, the Virginia minimum wage increased to $7.25 per hour, as well.

Every Virginia employer must update his or her labor law posters to reflect the change.

In the 2007, the Fair Minimum Wage Act enacted a series of increases for the federal minimum wage to be accomplished over a three year period. Each increase would be 70 cents and would occur on July 24. The first increase took place in 2007, the second in 2008, and the third and last increase in 2009.

That last increase went into effect on July 24, 2009 and increased the federal minimum from $6.55 per hour to $7.25 per hour. This increase affected most of the employers in Virginia, including those covered by the state minimum wage.

Many Virginia employers are covered by the federal minimum wage.

The federal minimum wage is governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act of (more…)

Recent changes to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or  EEOC regulations, which will go into effect on January 1, 2009, update the definition of a disability under the law. It’s vital for every employer to be aware of these changes.

Originally, the EEOC took a very broad view of the term “disability” under the ADA, or Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Since that time, a number of Supreme Court decisions have narrowed the definition of a disability considerably.

It’s important to understand the history of these regulations. In one of the most obvious cases, the Supreme Court ruled that an employee was considered not to have a disability if the employee, using a mitigating measure, (more…)