The U.S. Dept. Read more

The federal minimum hourly wage is scheduled to increase to $7.25 per hour on July 24, matching Hawaii’s current minimum wage rate.

California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington will continue to have higher minimum wage rates than the federal rate; where a business is sub Read more

In an undercover investigation conducted by the General Accounting Office, the Dept. Read more

The U.S. Dept.

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According to a recently released Dept. Read more

Under the bill signed into law by President Bush on May 25, the federal hourly minimum wage will increase from $5.15 to $5.85 on July 24, then to $6.55 on July 24, 2008, and to $7.25 on July 24, 2009. Read more

Applying the FLSA's Administrative Test Read more

Overall, the Wage-Hour Division of the Dept. of Labor obtained more than $171 million in back wages for fiscal year 2006. More than $120 million was collected for overtime violations, and $15.2 million for federal minimum wage violations. The division also assessed employers $2.9 million in Fair Labor Standards Act civil money penalties. Read more

The recently released opinion letter goes on to state that where employee uniforms require ironing, dry cleaning, daily washing or other special treatment, employees must be reimbursed for uniform maintenance costs which reduce their wages below the legal minimum.

The employees are foreign nationals temporarily working in the U.S. receiving compensation both in the currency from their home country and in dollars. The employees meet the other requirements for exempt executive, administrative, or professional employees, but the dollar amount of their pay falls below the minimum salary requirement of $455 per week. Read more