labor lawAdivision of labor law center

The state Department of Commerce recently announced that the 2010 Ohio minimum wage will remain at $7.30 per hour.  

This is good news for employers across Ohio, who had been bracing for another annual increase on January 1, 2010. Under an amendment to the constitution passed by voters in November 2006, the Ohio minimum wage will increases each year on January 1.

However, the Ohio minimum wage increase is based on inflation for the previous year – specifically, it is based on the Consumer Price Index or CPI for urban wage earners and clerical workers for the 12-month period ending August 31. So the 2010 Ohio minimum wage is based on the CPI for September 2008 through August 2009.

During that period, the CPI declined by 0.2%. By law the Ohio minimum wage cannot be reduced, but it will not be increased in 2010, either.

The Ohio minimum wage applies to employers with annual revenue of more than $267,000. Employers grossing less than $267,000 per year can pay just $7.25 per hour – an amount equal to the federal minimum wage. The minimum wage for employees who are 14 or 15 (more…)

 According to the Ohio Department of Commerce, the state of Ohio increased its minimum wage as of January 1, 2009.

The Ohio minimum wage, which tracks the cost of living, went up by 30 cents an hour. The old rate was $7.00 per hour and the new rate is $7.30.

The increase in Ohio is not the largest increase in the minimum wage nationwide. In Washington, the increase was 48 cents an hour – to $8.55 hourly from $8.07. Oregon experienced a 45-cent hike, bringing its rate to $8.40 hourly. Connecticut’s rate also went up by 45 cents an hour. The new Connecticut minimum is now $8.00 an hour.

Altogether, 11 states increased their minimum wage rates as of January 1, 2009.

The largest actual minimum wage increase was in New Mexico. Under a new law passed by voters in 2006, the rate went up $1.00 an hour, from $6.50 to $7.50. New Mexico’s increase was not based on the cost of living, however.

In November of 2006, voters in Ohio approved a constitutional amendment mandating that the minimum wage track the inflation rate annual. The state uses the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for urban wage earners and clerical workers for a 12-month period that ends each August.

Because the CPI climbed 4.6% between September 1, 2007 and August 21, 2008, Ohio’s minimum wage also showed an atypically large jump, as did the wage rates in several other states as well.

This January 1 the minimum wage for Ohio workers receiving tips also went up. The new rate is $3.65 hourly, an increase of 15 cents. If a tipped employee in Ohio does not earn an average of $3.65 an hour in tips, then the management is required to make up the difference.

Ohio law has an exception whereby smaller companies may pay their workers less than larger companies do. If revenue is below $267,000 in 2009, the company is allowed to pay $6.55 an hour. However, that will only be the case until July 24, 2009, when the new federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour overrides lower rates.