...Overview of the Federal Minimum Wage The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), a law that guarantees employees and youth a fair minimum wage and overtime pay. It is regulated by the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL); it mandates employers to pay all nonexempt employees a federal minimum wage no less than the determine amount set by the government (U.S. DOL, 2011). Unfortunately, the federal minimum wage still sits at $7.25 per hour and has remained the same since George W. Bush signed a law to change it on July 24, 2009 (Risher, 2013; U.S. DOL, 2011). So, why did so many government officials decline the increase of the federal minimum wage and why do they fear the positive impact that the increase will have on America? This paper intends to briefly discuss six laws, all pertaining to federal minimum wage introduced to the House of Representatives within a year and highlight one member of the senate who disapproved the law for passing. In addition, this paper will briefly point out statements made about why some Senators chose to decline the bill; and finally, this paper intends to briefly explain any legal issues preventing the wage increase and implications for management. Start of Hope: Minimum Wage Fairness United States senators and representatives have introduced numerous federal minimum wage bills to the House of Representatives in order to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) during their term. These bills were designed to either...
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...ENG 111 10 March 2014 The Reasons Why Federal Minimum Wage Is Raised U.S. President Barack Obama signed an executive order on February 12, 2014 to raise the minimum wage for federal contract workers to $10.10 an hour starting next year and encouraged employers nationwide to increase wages for their workers. The president also announced during his State of the Union address last month that he intended to take executive action to raise wages for federal contract workers (Mason). Order to understand this issue, we are going to understand what the Federal Minimum Wage is and when started it in the U.S.A. According to the United States Department of Labor (USDL), early in the administration of the Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA), it started to be apparent that the use of the legal minimum wage was prone to producing undesirable efforts upon the financial systems of Puerto Rico and also the Virgin Island if put on all their covered industries. As a result, on June 26, 1940, an amendment was passed prescribing the establishment of special industry committees to find out, and problem through wage orders, the minimum, wage levels relevant in Puerto Rico and also the Virgin islands. The rates established by industry committees might be under the legal rates relevant elsewhere within the United States. In 1949, the minimum wage was elevated from 40 cents an hour or so to 75 cent an hour so for those employees and minimum wage coverage was extended to incorporate employees in mid-air...
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...living. Working full-time in a minimum wage job pays $7.25 per hour. That's just $15,000 a year for full-time work. It's not enough to live on. A breadwinner for a family of four earning the minimum wage would be a full $7,000 below the federal poverty line. It is my opinion that minimum wages should at least cover the cost of living. There is such a large disparity in the way salaries are created. Some corporations’ continue to give their CEOs annual large raises and bonuses but claim they cannot afford to pay some of their employees enough to raise their standard of living above the poverty level. As of 1 January 2013 the following is a breakdown on the information about the minimum wages: § 23 states and VI have minimum wages the same as the federal minimum wage of $7.25. § 18 states and D.C. have minimum wages above the federal minimum wage. § 4 states and PR have minimum wages below the federal minimum wage (the federal minimum thus applies). § 5 states have not established a s state minimum wage. The lowest minimum wage is $5.15 and the highest minimum wage is $9.19. Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, and Tennessee do not have minimum wage laws. This does not mean they do not have minimum wages because there is a federal minimum wage that these states must still enforce. States can only choose to have higher minimum wages than the federal law or have no specific law at all and enforce the federal law. “Department of Labor...
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...only get paid minimum wage. The federal minimum wage is set at $7.25, as of 2009. Over the past 79 years, the national minimum wage has been raised 22 times (Minimum Wage Mythbusters). The wage has been increased due to inflation, or the decrease in value of currency. With inflation, everyday objects cost more than they did 70 years ago. The minimum wage today is less compared to the minimum wage of 1981. The base pay needs to be raised for the good of the people, and the good of the country. Increasing minimum wage in the United States will reduce its poverty, boost economic activity, and benefit and reward...
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...raising the national federal minimum wage from 7.25 percent to 10.10 percent to fill the gap of income inequality. Obama wants to give America a raise. He said, “That too many Americans are working just to get by. Some are not working at all.” He wants to speed economic growth by putting more money into the pockets of the low-income families. He wants to help them get out of poverty by raising the federal minimum wage and pegging it to inflation. The President believes that this solution will help big businesses in the long run by decreasing employee training cost and cutting back on high turnovers. In contrary, Obama will hurt the people he is trying to help. “This proposal will only harm the people the President wants to help, especially teens, who have already endured more than four years of 20+percent unemployment,” Saltman said. “If the President wants to boost the economy and have an impact on the country’s unemployment rate, he needs to lower barriers to hiring, not raise them.” The minimum wage class is mostly made up of teenagers and young adults. These people are usually people with low skills and have little or no experience. Some of them are first time job seekers just starting out in the work force. Most of us at some point in our lives have started out working a minimum wage job. Why? We need the minimum wage jobs to help us gain the experience we need to climb the success ladder for a higher paying job. They are stepping stone jobs. Minimum wage jobs were not intended...
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...arguments for and against raising the minimum wage are almost unavoidable in the labor market, with each side having individually strong points. Advocates say that anyone who works 40 hours a week or more deserves to earn a decent living wage and get out of poverty, while opponents argue that high wages cost jobs. Most of the arguments for increasing the minimum wage are more emotional pleas and theories with very little evidence for achieving the desired outcome. The truth is that raising the minimum wage does not lead people to get out of poverty, but what it does is make it more difficult for younger workers to find entry-level jobs to build their skills. By raising the minimum wage, experts argue that it will make it more difficult for younger workers entering the workforce to get a job. Employers will be hiring workers with more experience and skills, since they can attract these workers with higher wages. Therefore, raising the minimum wage may be causing more harm to a younger workforce looking to find their first job to gain relevant work experience. Our country needs to focus on the inconvenient truths about the real impact around raising the minimum wage. Some of these inconvenient truths are highlighted by the research that clearly shows how raising the minimum wage may cause more harm than good, and have significant consequences to the younger and entry-level workers vs. the emotional theories that state increasing the minimum wage will get more people out of poverty...
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...Paper Coy, Peter. “How Much Am I Worth? - The Case for a $10.10 Minimum Wage.” Bloomberg Businessweek. Feb 2014: 10-13. Print. The Cost-Of-Living in Hawaii and New York are among the highest. Yet, in both states the minimum wage is set at $7.25. In his January 2014 State of the Union address, President Obama requested to raise a new federal minimum wage of $10.10 an hour. This movement has progressed within the past couple of weeks since its publication in February 2014. In the following pages, I will attempt to update and fill in the gaps where the article has left off. How would you like a 40% increase in your payroll? I bet that sounds like a great idea! How about if you and your fellow coworker’s all received a 40% raise? Even better right? Now, what if that 40% increase went through with the entire nation? Although raising the minimum wage would not increase everyone’s wage, this is where the controversy starts. Set in 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act, or FLSA, is the fundamental compensation law in the United States. It is the federal law that establishes a minimum wage and limits the number of hours that may be worked in a standard week. It defines two categories of employees, the exempt employees and the non-exempt employees. The exempt employees are not allowed over-time pay, and non-exempt employees who are allowed overtime. The non-exempt employees are highly effected through this issue of raising minimum wage. Non-exempt employees are given the benefit of overtime...
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...Should minimum wage increase? “The bottom line is that five million low-income Americans working full time for minimum wage, deserve a raise,” says Jim Clyburn. The argument that has continued for years is whether the American federal government should increase the minimum? The two opposing sides on this argument are the Republicans and the Democrats. The Democrats are for minimum wage to increase, unlike the Republicans, who are against it and think of it as a job killer. There are many reasons why the Democrats are for the increase of minimum wage. Currently, there are approximately 3.8 million people who are working at minimum wage or below it. Fewer than one in four minimum wage workers are teenagers and more than half are 25 or older. (Dickinson) If minimum wage were raised to $10.10 it would trim payrolls by less than one-third of one percent, which would help approximately one million Americans out of poverty. It has been proven by the Congressional Budget Office that the raise will not affect the number of jobs as much as people think, and the increase will accomplish more than just harmful situations. There should have been a consistent raise in minimum wage from 1968 to now, but there has not been. The federal government minimum wage should be close to $20 an hour. Tax money could potentially fund less food stamps, welfare, and other financial support for this to occur. A family of four trying to be successful and build their family is living on the earnings of being...
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...describe the major features of the US Department of Labor Website at http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/health-plans/cobra.htm. The first feature is Wages Subtopics. Wages Subtopics provide additional information employees can use to help monitor their wage benefits. By choosing from the Wages subtopics list it will also help employees narrow their browsing. This information is useful so that employees and employers understand employee qualification for benefit programs. The Department of Labor enforces the Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA), which sets basic minimum wage and overtime pay standards. These standards are enforced by the Department's Wage and Hour Division. This law was enacted in 1938. It protects workers by setting standards for minimum wage, overtime pay, record keeping and youth labor. FLSA covers full-time and part-time workers in the private sector and in federal, state, and local governments. The law may apply to you because of the type of company or organization for which you work, known as enterprise coverage, or the type of work you do, called individual coverage (Roseburg, 2013). Minimum Wage Non-exempt employees must be paid a national minimum wage established by the US Congress. As of July 24, 2009 that wage is $7.25 per hour. Some states have set their own minimum wage. The employer must pay federal or state wages-whichever is higher. Overtime Pay Employers must give overtime pay to non-exempt employees who work over 40 hours per week. They must pay these...
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...The living wage movement is an economic reform movement that has become one of the most substantial public policy issues. Although, there is no absolute definition, it is repeatedly defined as an hourly salary that admits working families of four to have an income that is higher than the federal poverty line. This means that the livable wage laws often designate that hourly wages should be two to three times above the federal minimum wage. However, unlike the minimum wage, the living wage has only been discoursed on the county and city level so far. Cities and counties continuously apply the living wage for companies that have contracts with their respective cities and counties, acquire recedes from their cities or counties, other economic benefits cities and counties supply to companies, and in some cases a livable wage is required for the tourist areas of the selective city. When the Democratic Party acquired authority of Congress, as part of its "100 Hour" plan it expeditiously presented legislation to higher the federal minimum wage from the current $5.15 per hour to $7.25 per hour. The partisan debate had been, unbelievably predictable, such as, Democratic people supporting an idea of the allege involvement for poor and working families, and Republican opponents allege involvement and concern for the percussion the hike may have on small business and inclusive employment. After all, the legislation has passed both houses in differing bills. The minimum wage hike had...
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...Limousines Employment Law Compliance Plan as the company grows, determined by the number of employees and the amount of business. Based on the information you have provided, I have including the following employment laws for Landslide Limousines Employment Law Compliance Plan that are applicable for the number of projected employees: Texas Minimum Wage Act, The Equal Pay Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title 7) and The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA). I will provide a description of each of the aforementioned laws and the associated penalty for violating that law. Texas Minimum Wage Act ties the Texas minimum wage for non-exempt employees to the Federal minimum wage and automatically increases with the Federal minimum wage.(Dolghih, n.d.) The Texas Minimum Wage Act covers the employees of small businesses that are not covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA will be applicable once Landslide Limousines has more than $500,000 in business. Should Landslide Limousines decide to transport passengers across state lines, the FLSA would be immediately applicable. The Texas Minimum Wage Act also requires employers to provide employees with a written statement of earnings for each pay period showing hour many hours were worked and the pay per hour...
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...Ethical found in the case This article occur two huge ethical issues. Firstly, the workers of Prime Flight earn their tips without minimum wages. Under The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), an employer of a tipped employee is required to pay $2.13 an hour in direct wages if that amount plus the tips received equals at least the federal minimum wage, the employee retains all tips and the employee customarily and regularly receives more than $30 a month in tips. If an employee's tips combined with the employer's direct wages of at least $2.13 an hour do not equal the federal minimum hourly wage, the employer must make up the difference. http://www.dol.gov/elaws/faq/esa/flsa/002.htm Besides, Prime Flight also lay off more than 600 of its employees without compensating. The workers of Prime Flight were fired without just cause, the Act says the employer must either give you written notice that you’re going to be fired or pay the workers the wages they would earn in the notice period. These wages are called compensation for length of service, and are sometimes known as termination pay or severance pay. The employer could give them an equivalent combination of notice and compensation. In addition, if an employer fires 50 or more employees at a single location within a two-month period, special rules apply unless the terminations are part of a normal seasonal reduction in staff. The employees are entitled to more notice or pay between 8 and 16 weeks or more, depending on the total...
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...KEVIN RYEN Micro Economics Minimum Wage State the purpose of this legal price, assess its impact on the market for labor, and evaluate the extent to which it achieves its purpose? The minimum wage is the lowest rate at which a worker can be played. There she minimum wage laws pegged to hourly, daily and even monthly rates, although U.S. law is pegged to an hourly wage. Also, a minimum wage law usually makes it illegal for a person to sell his labor for less than the minimum wage rate The general purpose of the minimum wage is to guarantee a living wage to all workers who work a standard period of time, whatever that might be. In theory, any labor who works 40 houses a week on minimum wage should be at or above the poverty level line. However, the minimum wage has not kept up pace with the inflation in the United States, and the cost of living increases more than the wage increases that are given and that way behind the standards Minimum wage laws were first started in Australia and New Zealand in the 1890s.The first minimum wage to be law was in Massachusetts in the 1912, but it only applied to children and women. The federal minimum wage was established in 1938, by the Fair Labor Standards Act. Initially set at 25 cents 0.an hour, the wage has been raised periodically to reflect changes in inflation and productivity. That minimum wage often involve protracted political battles,” Did you know that one in five...
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...Minimum Wage: The Effects of Minimum Wage on the Economy and Poverty Level in relation to Living Expenses Alison Denne Central Virginia Community College Minimum wage started with the “New Deal” program. In 1933, Roosevelt’s advisers decided to develop a National Industrial Recovery Act (NRA) to “suspend antitrust laws so that industries could enforce fair-trade codes resulting in less competition and higher wages” (Grossman, 1978). In his President’s Reemployment Agreement, Roosevelt accepted “to raise wages, create employment, and thus restore business” (Grossman, 1978). This began the arrangement of the government creating a policy for the working class. In order to offset the “overwork, underpay” regulations in the US economy,...
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...THE LIVING WAGE AND ITS EFFECT ON THE ECONOMY INTRODUCTION The topic of our study investigates the living wage and its effect on the economy. A survey will be distributed asking questions about wages, cost of living, and making ends meet. Our conclusions and recommendations on the topic of living wages will result from this survey. BACKGROUND The definition of living wage is “a term used to describe the minimum hourly wage necessary for a person to achieve some specific standard of living. This means a person working forty hours a week, ”should be able to afford housing, food, utilities, transportation, health care and recreation” at a basic level. (Wikipedia.org). Currently, a living wage is set by local municipalities based on a local cost of living assessment, and applies only to government employees and/or contractors. This is different from minimum wage, which is set by law through the Federal government. The federal minimum wage is the minimum amount that a worker can be paid an hour and this law applies to nearly all workers. In Michigan, the minimum wage is currently $7.40 an hour. Minimum wage does not always meet the requirements of a living wage. (Wikipedia.org). For example, in 2008, East Pointe, MI paid its employees a living wage of $10.40/hr , while Detroit, MI paid its employees and contractors $8.25/hr, both with health benefits in comparison to $7.40/hr Federal minimum wage.(laborstudies.wayne.edu/ According to the Economic Policy Institute...
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