2018 Minimum Wage Increases
2018 has arrived, and so have new regulations. While you might be dealing with post Open Enrollment confirmations and system fixes, there are also compensations rules effective as early as this month that your company might need to be compliant with.
Here’s the full rundown for minimum wage increases for 2018.
Effective in 2018 exempt employee pay minimums will increase. States that will be affected include Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rode Island, South Dakota, and Washington.
For employees falling under executive, administrative, or professional employee type, they must be compensated on a salary or fee basis, at a rate no less than $455 per week. Each state has annual increases starting in 2018, with varying rates based on company size and hours worked.
To view the rate tables for the states affected, check out the full report here.
For employees working on a commissioned based, there are also overtime exemption minimum pay increases.
California: An employee’s earnings must exceed one-and-a-half times the state minimum wage, which on January 1, 2018, will increase to $11.00 per hour for employers with 26 or more employees and to $10.50 per hour for employees with 25 or fewer employees.
New York: The general wage order provides – in part – that employers must pay an employee for overtime at a wage rate of one-and-one-half times the employee's regular rate in the manner and methods provided in and subject to the exemptions of section 7 of the FLSA. However, it is unclear whether payment is based on the federal or state minimum wage. If the state minimum wage, it will increase on December 31, 2017 (“2017”), and on December 31, 2018 (“2018”). In New York City, the minimum wage applicable to employers with 11 or more employees will increase to $13.00 (2017) and $15.00 (2018); the rate for employers with 10 or fewer employees will increase to $12.00 (2017) and $13.50 (2018). The minimum wage in Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester Counties will increase to $11.00 (2017) and $12.00 (2018). Finally, in the remainder of New York State, the minimum wage will increase to $10.40 (2017) and $11.10 (2018).
For the remaining states pay increases for commissioned employees with overtime, check out the full report here.
In addition to these wage increases, employers could see a new overtime rule proposal in October. The U.S. Department of Labor just announced this for their fall regulatory agenda.
Come Fall, the DOL will examine alternatives for revisions to the current regulations in determining what the salary level for exemption of executive, administrative, and professional employees should be. While intentions have not yet been made public, speculations include getting rid of the threshold or increasing it to $32,000 and $35,000.
Compliance and compensation laws can be tricky to keep up with and implement while juggling the day to day of your HR responsibilities. Need an extra hand in staying up-to-date or ensuring your company is compliant? MBL Benefits Consulting can help.