Federal Minimum Wage Increase Today Has No Impact on Connecticut Workers
You may hear about an increase in the federal minimum wage today from $5.85 to $6.55 per hour. If you do, you can ignore the news in Connecticut because it will not have any effect on workers here.
If a state law puts the minimum wage rate higher than the federal minimum wage, state law applies. (To see if your state may be covered, check out a variety of websites, including this recent post by the HR Daily Advisor Blog.)
In Connecticut, our minimum wage is currently at $7.65 per hour, so Connecticut law applies.
And Connecticut's minimum wage rates will continue to exceed the federal minimum wage for the foreseeable future. As a result of a new law passed last month, Connecticut's minimum wage will increase to $8.00 per hour on January 1, 2009 and to $8.25 on January 1, 2010.
