Tag Archive for: Connecticut
Connecticut Minimum Wage and Wage Orders
Connecticut revised its minimum wage posting and five industry-specific wage orders to reflect increases in its minimum wage rate increases that took effect January 1, 2014.
The revisions are considered mandatory, and employers in the affected industries must display the most current version of the wage order appropriate to their business classification.
The minimum wage posting (aka the Administration Regulations Poster) and other postings required for Connecticut employers are available as part of GovDocs Connecticut labor law poster packages in print and electronic formats.
What is the Connecticut Minimum Wage?
Connecticut was the first state in the U.S. to schedule a minimum wage increase to $10.10 per hour. The increase will occur in stages by 2017. For workers not covered by industry-specific wage orders, the standard Connecticut minimum wage rate schedule is:
- January 1, 2014: $8.70
- January 1, 2015: $9.15
- January 1, 2016: $9.60
- January 1, 2016: $10.10
What is a Connecticut Wage Order?
Along with California and New York, Connecticut is one of three states that requires employers in certain industries to post industry-specific wage orders that define and regulate:
- Minimum fair wage rates
- Calculation of payment
- Overtime rates
- Uniform, housing, and transportation allowances
- Record-keeping requirements for employers
Connecticut established five separate wage orders covering restaurants, dry cleaners, laundry, beauty shop and mercantile businesses who must display the wage order specific to their industry for employees. Each wage order establishes a sub-minimum wage specific to those industries.
Connecticut Wage Order for Restaurant and Hotel Restaurant Occupations
Mandatory Order Number 8 details the minimum fair wage requirements for restaurant employees who are:
“engaged in the preparation and serving of food for human consumption, or in any operation incidental or supplemental thereto irrespective of whether the food is served at or away from the point of preparation, and irrespective of whether the preparation and serving of food is the sole business of the employing establishment.”
Tipped table service workers (waitstaff) earn:
- January 1, 2014: $5.69 per hour plus gratuities
- January 1, 2015: $5.78 per hour plus gratuities
- January 1, 2016: $6.07 per hour plus gratuities
- January 1, 2016: $6.38 per hour plus gratuities
Bartenders earn:
- January 1, 2014: $7.34 per hour plus gratuities
- January 1, 2015: $7.46 per hour plus gratuities
- January 1, 2016: $7.82 per hour plus gratuities
- January 1, 2016: $8.23 per hour plus gratuities
In addition to the statutes covering wage and hour laws which are contained in Title 31, Chapter 558, there are specific wage orders with regulations that cover restaurants, mercantile establishments, beauty shops, dry cleaning and laundry. The Administrative Regulations cover all other businesses. Posters with these regulations must be posted at the place of business. Connecticut also provides Spanish versions of the Administrative Regulations and the Restaurant Wage Order.
Minor Employees in Restaurants
Connecticut restaurants employing minors need to limit the hours worked by staff aged 16-17 years old; for example:
During the school years, minor employees may be scheduled only between 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. on days when there is school in session the following day (or until midnight if there is no school the following day) – and no more than six hours per day for a total of 32 hours per week.
The minimum wage for minor workers (17 or younger) is:
- January 1, 2014: $8.70
- January 1, 2015: $9.15
- January 1, 2016: $9.60
- January 1, 2016: $10.10
For more information about the regulation of minors employed in Connecticut restaurants, see the Connecticut Employment of Minors posting, which must be displayed by restaurants employing workers under the age of 18 years.
For more information, download the free A Guide to Wage and Workplace Standards Division and Its Laws from Connecticut Department of Labor (CDOL) Wage and Workplace Standards Division (WWSD).
Maryland Second State to Raise Minimum Wage to $10.10
Citing efforts to strengthen Maryland’s middle class, Governor Martin O’Malley signed into law SB 331, which increases the minimum wage in Maryland to $10.10 in stages by 2018.
- January 1, 2015: $8.00 per hour
- July 1, 2015: $8.25 per hour
- July 1, 2016: $8.75 per hour
- July 1, 2017: $9.25 per hour
- July 1, 2018: $10.10 per hour
The move puts Maryland at the top of the nation’s highest paid minimum-wage workers. Connecticut, which recently increased its minimum wage rate, will reach the $10.10 level by 2017.
Democratic Control and the Federal Minimum Wage
Maryland and Connecticut both are led by Democratic Governors and Democratic majorities in their state legislatures, only two states of 13 others have similar Democratic control. The legislation correlates to President Obama’s larger campaign to push the Federal minimum wage to $10.10 before the end of his second term.
Maryland Minimum Wage Increase Affects Postings
Employers in Maryland will need to display the current minimum wage posting in each year the rate changes. The State has issued the 2014 Maryland Minimum Wage and Overtime Law fact sheet, which is available as part of the GovDocs Maryland Posting Package. Each Maryland compliance package (printed poster or PDFs) includes workplace postings required for Maryland employers.
Connecticut Tops States with $10.10 Minimum Wage
Effective January 2017, Connecticut minimum wage workers will receive the highest state minimum wage rate in the U.S.
The Connecticut General Assembly passed legislation raising the State’s current $8.70 per hour minimum wage in each of the next three years to $10.10 in 2017.
- 2014: $8.70
- 2015: $9.15
- 2016: $9.60
- 2017: $10.10
Governor Daniel Malloy signed the legislation March 27, 2014. Similar state minimum wage rate increases are also being considered in Maryland, Massachusetts, Hawaii.
In a statement from the White House, President Obama took the opportunity to use Connecticut’s new minimum wage rate to promote his own push for raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour.
I support these efforts, and I commend Governor Malloy for his leadership. But to truly make sure our economy rewards the hard work of every American, Congress must act. I hope Members of Congress, governors, state legislators and business leaders across our country will follow Connecticut’s lead to help ensure that no American who works full time has to raise a family in poverty, and that every American who works hard has the chance to get ahead.
