Indiana Minimum Wage Increase 2009
Posted by Tamara
On July 24, 2009 the Indiana minimum wage increases from $6.55 to $7.25 per day. This change mirrors an increase in the federal minimum wage on the same date. By state law, the Indiana minimum wage cannot be lower than the federal rate.
In many ways, the Indiana and federal minimum wage laws are similar, if not identical to one another. They are set at the same level and increase by the same amount each year, during those years when there is a federal minimum wage hike. They increase on the same day of the year. They both allow tipped workers to be paid less than the minimum.
On one significant point they differ, however. Indiana law covers many smaller businesses that would not otherwise be affected by the federal minimum wage law.
Both the federal and the Indiana minimum wage rates will go up by 70 cents on July 24, 2009. The old rate under both is $6.55 an hour and the new hourly rate will be $7.25. For Indiana and other employers, the good news is that no federal minimum wage hike is scheduled for 2010.
The federal Fair Labor Standards Act, also known as the FLSA, establishes the national minimum wage. For more information, visit www.dol.gov, the website of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). The enforcing agency is the Wage and Hour Division of the DOL.
Indiana statute mandates that the state mirror the federal law and schedule regarding the minimum wage. As a result, both rates were hiked from $5.15 to $5.85 an hour in 2007 and from $5.85 to $6.55 in 2008.
Under the FLSA, employers must pay the federal minimum wage unless they conduct interstate commerce or earn revenues of less than $500,000 a year. Indiana law, however, provides for coverage of smaller employers as well. Incidentally, if just a single worker in a company conducts interstate commerce, then that employee is covered by the federal minimum wage law even if no other workers in the firm receive that protection.
Like the federal law, Indiana law does not offer minimum wage protection to tipped workers. There are some states where tipped workers may be paid only $2.13 an hour. The law requires that if a worker does not earn an average $5.12 per hour in tips over a pay period, the employer must pay the difference.
Last 10 posts by Tamara
- Louisiana Holiday Pay Law - November 6th, 2009
- Virginia Vacation Law - November 5th, 2009
- Texas Lunch Law - November 4th, 2009
- Indiana Comp Time - November 3rd, 2009
- Georgia Child Labor - November 2nd, 2009
- Michigan Hostile Work Environment - October 31st, 2009
- Salaried Exempt in Mississippi - October 29th, 2009
- Federal 401k - October 28th, 2009
- New Hampshire 401k - October 27th, 2009
- West Virginia Confidential Files - October 26th, 2009