What is the minimum wage?
The minimum wage is currently $8.00 per hour. Connecticut’s minimum wage will be increasing to $8.25 on January 1, 2010. For minors working in agriculture or government, it is 85% of minimum wage, and for minors working in other industries, it is 85% for the first 200 hours. This is covered in Section 31-58 and Section 31-58a of the CT State Statutes.
Currently, the federal minimum wage is $5.15 per hour. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division enforces the federal Fair Labor Standards Act that regulates minimum wage rates, overtime pay, child labor, and equal pay for employees. Most states have similar laws to the FLSA. Federal minimum wage and state minimum wage can differ. Generally, the wage rate that provides more benefit to the employee determines the employee’s rate of pay.
A. Effective October 1, 2006, state minimum wage is $6.25 per hour. State minimum wage laws are expanded to cover all employers having four or more employees. On May 25, 2007 President Bush signed a spending bill to increase the federal minimum wage from $5.15 an hour in three steps: to $5.85 per hour effective July 24, 2007; to $6.55 per hour effective July 24, 2008; and to $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009.
