Utah Minimum Wage Increase

The Utah minimum wage will increase by 70 cents from $5.85 per hour to $6.55 per hour on July 24, 2008. On that same day, the minimum wage in a dozen other states will increase, with the federal minimum wage.

Utah’s minimum wage increase procedure is unique. A number of other states, including Texas, Virginia, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Maryland, Idaho and Indiana simply contain language in the minimum wage act that the state rate will be the same as the federal minimum wage. Instead, in Utah, an administrative action by the Utah Labor Commission is necessary to adopt the federal minimum wage.

The federal Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 implemented three annual increases in the federal minimum wage. Each was 70 cents. The first increase was on July 24, 2007 when the federal minimum wage went from $5.15 per hour to $5.85 per hour. The final incremental increase will be on July 24, 2009.

In 2007, the Utah Labor Commission took action to increase the state minimum wage in the same three tiers. Due to an internal debate and time for administrative rulemaking, however, the initial Utah minimum wage increase in 2007 took place on September 8, 2007 not July 24, 2007. However, the same administrative action increased the state minimum wage at measured intervals on July 24 2008 and July 24, 2009.

The next Utah minimum wage increase will be on July 24, 2009 when the rate will go up by 70 cents. That’s the final minimum wage increase in this series. Any additional increases would require a special action by the Utah Labor Commission.

In changing the state minimum wage in 2007, the Utah Labor Commissioner noted that it had been a decade since the state rate – then $5.15 per hour – had increased. Utah statute requires the state Labor Commissioner to review the rate whenever there is a change in the federal minimum wage. While the law does not specifically require an increase, that is the implication.

Both Utah and federal law leave the minimum wage for tipped employees unchanged at $2.13 per hour through 2009. A tipped employee is one who earns at least $30 per month in tips. Utah law specifically excludes chefs, janitors and dishwashers from classification as tipped employees. If the employee does not average sufficient tips to equal the minimum wage, the employer must pay the difference as wages.

Utah employers can also pay a training wage of $4.25 per hour for employees under the age of 18, during the first 90 days of employment. After 90 days, however, the employee must be paid the full minimum wage.