Ohio Minimum Wage Rates

Ohio Minimum Wage To Rise, January 1, 2009

Federal Minimum Wage To Rise, July 24, 2009

 Federal Minimum Wage Law

Ohio’s minimum wage will rise to $7.30 per hour, effective January 1, 2009. In 2006, Ohioans approved a new Amendment to Ohio’s Constitution that both raised Ohio’s minimum wage and provided for an automatic increase every January 1st by the rate of inflation based on the consumer price index. On January 1, 2008, Ohio’s minimum wage rose to $7.00 per hour (for those employers whose annual gross receipts in 2007 exceeded $255,000). The Ohio Department of Commerce recently announced the following increase to Ohio’s minimum wage effective January 1, 2009:

 

• General rule: Employers whose annual gross receipts in 2008 exceeded $267,000 will have to pay a minimum wage of $7.30 per hour.

 

• Tipped employees: As before, tipped employees may be paid half the minimum wage ($3.65 per hour effective January 1, 2009), if their wage plus tips equals at least $7.30 per hour. Employers whose 2008 annual gross receipts did not exceed $267,000 do not have to pay the Ohio minimum wage; however, they must still pay the federal minimum wage. Currently, the federal minimum wage is $6.55 per hour, but it will increase to $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009. Employees under the age of 16 are also exempt from the Ohio minimum wage, but they too must still be paid the federal minimum wage.

Where Federal and State law have different minimum wage rates, the higher standard applies.

 

Exceptions to the Ohio Minimum Wage Law.

Employees under the age of 16 and employees of small businesses (less than $267,000 in annual gross revenues) are not entitled to the new minimum wage. However, the minimum wage amendment to Ohio’s constitution requires employers to pay those employees at least the federal minimum wage. Therefore, if they fail to pay the federal minimum wage, those employers will violate both federal and Ohio minimum wage laws.