Georgia Minimum Wage

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 employees involved in interstate commerce.

For example, a switchboard operator who answers out-of-state calls or an administrative assistant who uses the Internet or email are both engaged in interstate commerce, and would be paid the federal minimum.

Several states, including Arizona, Maryland, Wisconsin and West Virginia enacted state minimum wage laws to mirror the federal minimum. Therefore, on July 24, 2009, when the federal minimum wage increased to $7.25 per hour, the state minimum wage in these states also increased to $7.25 per hour.