Hot Trends in Minimum Wage for 2016

Published on Nov. 20, 2015

The GovDocs Compliance Research department monitors more than 1,200 workplace postings from 500 government agencies across North America for changes in labor laws like minimum wage. We capture an average of 10 labor law posting changes each month to help keep large employers informed and compliant.

Based on our analysis, GovDocs has identified three hot trends in minimum wage that are likely to impact large employers in 2016 and beyond.

Rate Level Spikes
More than just “a nickel here, a dime there”, employers can expect significant increases in minimum wage rates – especially at the city level. Politicians are rallying low-wage voters around issues of economic justice and living wage standards. Obama’s $10.10 initiatives (Federal Contractors, for example) seems reasonably priced compared to the clamor around $15 per hour for fast food workers and San Francisco’s $15 minimum wage for 2018.

Indexed Minimum Wages
A spate of states and cities are linking their minimum wage rates to the cost of living, based on changes to the Consumer Price Index each year. This doesn’t always result in a minimum wage increase as it did in Oakland or Richmond, Calif. Tracking these indexed rates adds a layer of complexity not only for payroll managers, but also for HR managers overseeing labor law posting compliance. For example, in the cases of Florida, Missouri, Ohio, and Oregon, the indexed rates remain unchanged for 2016, but employers are still required to replace the posting each year, whether the rate changes or not.

Citywide Minimum Wages
In spite of states like Missouri and Oklahoma putting the kibosh on citywide minimum wage ordinances, nationally, more cities are establishing their own citywide minimum wage rates. Recent examples include Chicago, Los Angeles, Sacramento, and Tacoma.

What Do the Trends Mean for Workplace Posting Compliance?

The two biggest effects on large companies in terms of labor law postings will be:

• More postings. There will be more required minimum wage postings across the country down to the municipal level.
• More posting changes. We foresee more frequent changes to required minimum wage postings – growing exponentially as more minimum wage postings are introduced across the country.

Obviously, for companies concerned about total posting compliance, this requires a robust posting compliance program led by a trusted partner in labor law posting compliance.

How GovDocs Can Help

Since 1999, GovDocs has helped employers eliminate barriers to total labor law posting compliance. As one of the largest providers of labor law posters and compliance services in the country, GovDocs serves more than 300,000 employment locations and 4 million employees in the U.S. and Canada with ongoing posting compliance. Our Fortune 1000 customers rely on GovDocs for enterprise posting compliance through:

• Largest coverage of city postings in the industry.
• Canadian compliance coverage for all 10 provinces.
• Dedicated Account Managers – not call center reps.
• In-house Compliance Counsel leading proactive compliance research process.
• Compliance Dashboard and audit tools to track enterprise compliance.
• Industry’s first Unlimited Guarantee for posting compliance.

Contact us today to learn how we can help your business remain compliant at an enterprise level.

This Labor Law News Blog is intended for market awareness only, it is not to be used for legal advice or counsel.