Labor Law Updates

When it comes to state posting changes, minimum wage increases are having maximum impact. In fact, these increases make up the biggest portion of the state-issued, mandatory employee postings employers must manage.

In the latest development with the federal contractor minimum wage, the Department of Labor finalized a five-cent increase over the previous year’s rate.

As previously reported, President Obama signed Executive Order 13658 establishing a minimum wage for federal contractors in February 2014. Effective January 1, 2015, the minimum hourly wage for workers on covered contractors was $10.10 an hour. As part of the Executive Order, however, the Secretary of Labor was authorized to make annual increases based on inflation.

As promised in his 2014 State of the Union address, President Obama has greenlighted a minimum wage increase for federal contract workers. The first step was the issuing of Executive Order 13658 – “Establishing a Minimum Wage for Contractors” – in mid-February. Nearly ten months later and after careful review of feedback from interested stakeholders, the Department of Labor announced a final rule raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour.