FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Workplace Fairness Endorses the Raise the Wage Act of 2019 and New Jersey Becomes Fourth State to Raise to $15.
Organization Provides Information on State Laws on Minimum Wage for Tipped and Non-Tipped Employees
SILVER SPRING, Md. (Feb. 6, 2019) – Workplace Fairness believes that treatment of workers is sound public policy and good business practice. The Fair Labor Standards Act is a federal law that establishes minimum wage, overtime pay eligibility, recordkeeping and child labor standards affecting full-time and part-time workers as well as in the private sector and in federal, state and local governments.
Raise the Wage Act of 2019
Workplace Fairness endorses the Raise the Wage Act of 2019, supporting the next Federal Minimum Wage bill that was introduced in Congress on Jan. 16, 2019. NELP and the Economic Policy Institute have put together the sign-on statement including the following information.
If enacted, this legislation would:
• Raise the federal minimum wage to $8.55 this year and increase it over the next five years until it reaches $15 an hour in 2024;
• After 2024, adjust the minimum wage each year to keep pace with growth in the typical worker’s wages;
• Phase out the outdated subminimum wage for tipped workers, which has been frozen at a meager $2.13 since 1991;
• Sunset the much-criticized ability of employers to pay workers with disabilities a subminimum wage through certificates issued by DOL; and,
• Phase out the subminimum wage for workers under the age of 20.
New Jersey Passes Legislation Putting the State on Track to $15 per hour by 2024
On February 4 New Jersey’s Governor signed legislation that adds New Jersey to the list of states that have already adopted a plan to increase minimum wage in the state to $15. New Jersey’s new law begins with an increase from the current rate of $8.85 per hour to $10.00 per hour in July 2019. Thereafter the wage will increase each January until it reaches $15 per hour in 2024.
State Minimum Wage Changes Across the Country
While we work to pass legislation that would increase the federal minimum wage, many states continue to increase state minimum wages. Find information about changes to the tipped and non-tipped employee minimum wage in each state on newly-updated Workplace Fairness pages on Filing a Wage and Hour Claim. For each state you’ll find information about that state's minimum wage in addition to other state specific information about the state's overtime and meal/rest break laws.
Learn for each state:
- Whether the state has overtime laws different from federal law.
- Whether the state has a minimum wage different from federal law.
- Whether any cities or counties in the state have their own minimum wage laws.
- What the state’s meal/rest break laws are.
- How to file a claim in your state.
A visit to the site will give you more comprehensive information at https://www.workplacefairness.org/
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About Workplace Fairness
Workplace Fairness is a nonprofit organization that provides information, education and assistance to individual workers and their advocates nationwide and promotes public policies that advance employee rights.
Our goals are that workers and their advocates are educated about workplace rights and options for resolving workplace problems and that policymakers, members of the business community and the public at large view the fair treatment of workers as both good business practice and sound public policy.
Private Interview Opportunities
Individual interviews with Workplace Fairness staff and members of the Board of Directors can be scheduled to discuss workplace issues for workers and employers.
Workplace Fairness works toward these goals by:
- Making comprehensive information about workers' rights—free of legal jargon—readily available to workers and to advocates and organizations that assist workers;
- Providing resources to support the work of legal services organizations, community-based organizations, law schools and private attorneys that provide free legal information and services to low-income workers;
- Presenting the employee perspective in publications, policy debates and public discussion.
A 2017 Webby Award Honoree, the award-winning Workplace Fairness website has newly updated information throughout the site, as part of the web's most comprehensive resource educating workers about their legal rights in the workplace.
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Media Contact:
Paula Brantner, Senior Advisor
240-772-1205
paula@workplacefairness.org
https://www.workplacefairness.org/