Get Ready! Florida’s Minimum Wage Increases on September 30, 2022
On September 30, 2022, Florida’s minimum hourly wage for non-exempt employees will rise from $10.00/hour to $11.00/hour.
This raise is part of a multi-year schedule approved by Florida voters in November of 2020 that will see Florida’s minimum wage rise $1.00 per year until September 30, 2026, when Florida’s minimum wage will ultimately settle at $15.00/hour.
Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and Florida’s own state-level labor laws, employers are required to display prominent signage reflecting these minimum wage requirements, among other mandatory disclosures (e.g., worker’s compensation, overtime, etc.). You can find Florida’s published minimum wage act poster meeting all these criteria online for free here: https://floridajobs.org/docs/default-source/business-growth-and-partnerships/for-employers/posters-and-required-notices/2021-minimum-wage/september-2021/poster-fl-minimum-wage-september-2021-english.pdf?sfvrsn=d92151b0_6
The Sensenig Law Firm will monitor Florida’s posting site in case an additional poster issued.
For most employers, this $1.00 raise is really as simple as that: the minimum wage will raise to $11.00 per hour, and employers must pay their employees and ensure the required minimum wage poster is prominently displayed in an employee break area.
For employers with tipped employees, however, things get just a tad trickier. First, many employers are surprised to find out that tipped employees are affected by the minimum wage increase at all. Suffice to say: tipped employees earning the minimum tip-credit wage will indeed receive a $1.00 raise to their hourly rate right alongside non-tipped employees. In short, the tip credit provides a flat – not percentage-based – reduction in the minimum wage of tipped employees in the amount of $3.02 per hour. Since the $3.02 per hour tip-credit is not affected by the legislation raising the minimum wage, tipped employees are entitled to the full $1.00/hour raise, resulting in a new minimum wage of $7.98/hour for tipped employees, provided of course that the tipped employees’ actual hourly rate meets or exceeds the regular $11.00 per hour rate, once tips are factored in.
And there you have it! In summation, the key takeaways as of September 30, 2022:
Untipped, non-exempt employees in the State of Florida are entitled to a minimum hourly wage of $11.00 per hour;
Tipped employees for whom an employer is claiming a tip-credit in the State of Florida are entitled to a minimum hourly wage of $7.98 per hour; and,
Employers must post signage reflecting this new minimum hourly wage.
If you have any questions regarding common minimum wage pitfalls such as paying employees on a salary basis, overtime, exemptions to overtime, and tip-credits, etc., the Sensenig Law Firm is here to help. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.