Client Briefing From the Employment and Labor Group

REMINDER

OHIO’S MINIMUM WAGE WILL INCREASE JANUARY 1, 2008

You may recall that Ohio voters passed Issue 2 on November 7, 2006 which amended Ohio’s Constitution so that each year Ohio’s minimum wage will increase by the rate of inflation for the prior twelve months.  The Ohio Department of Commerce has calculated the inflation and adjusted the Ohio minimum wage for 2008.

Effective January 1, 2008, Ohio’s minimum wage will increase to $7.00 per hour for regular hourly employees.  The minimum wage for tipped employees will increase to $3.50 per hour.  (The current Ohio minimum wage is $6.85 per hour for regular hourly workers and $3.43 for tipped employees.)

For 2008, Ohio's minimum wage law does not apply to employees whose employer's annual gross revenues are under $255,000 or to 14 and 15 year old employees. (Currently, Ohio's minimum wage applies to employers who gross over $250,000 per year.)  But, the federal minimum wage laws do apply to these employees.  The federal minimum wage is currently $5.85 per hour, but will increase to $6.55 on July 24, 2008 and to $7.25 on July 24, 2009 pursuant to a law signed by President Bush in May 2007.

            For more information on this or other employment law issues, please contact Patti Weisberg or one of our other Employment lawyers.