Every year, millions of dollars are stolen from Minnesota workers, according to labor rights watchdog Workday Minnesota. Employers across the State are violating federal and Minnesota labor laws, underpaying their employees or not paying them at all. It’s called wage theft and it’s a huge problem.
Overtime Lawyers In Minnesota
Today, wage theft is happening right now in restaurants, hospitals and call centers. Couriers and delivery drivers are having their hours shaved off by complex pay schemes that break the law. Thousands of home health aides are losing out on overtime wages due to incorrect calculations or outright wrongdoing.
Wage theft isn’t okay. You’ve worked hard to earn your money. You deserve to get it. Our experienced unpaid overtime attorneys can help. We’ve already guided hundreds of American workers, many of them in Minnesota, through the legal process with confidence. Our clients have recovered millions of dollars in stolen back wages by pursuing wage and hour lawsuits.
WageAdvocates.com is sponsored by a national coalition of legal professionals. Lead sponsors Tim Becker, Esq., Jacob Rusch, Esq. and David Grounds, Esq. are attorneys at Johnson // Becker, a plaintiffs’ law firm based in St. Paul. Based in Minnesota, and thoroughly versed in the State’s labor laws, our legal team is well-positioned to provide experienced representation to workers throughout Minnesota.
Minimum Wage In Minnesota
Minnesota has two different minimum wages, one for large companies and another for small companies:
- $9.65 – large employer – a business enterprise with $500,000 in annual gross revenues or more
- $7.87 – small employer – a business enterprise with less than $500,000 in annual gross revenues
The minimum wage in Minnesota changes every year along with inflation. Inflation represents the amount of value a dollar loses in a given year, as the price of normal goods and services increases. Minnesota’s minimum wage is now pegged to inflation due to a 2014 law. 2018, however, is the first year in which one of these inflationary increases will actually be put into practice, the Star Tribune reports.
State Minimum Wage In 2018
On January 1, 2018, Minnesota’s minimum wage rose to:
- $9.65 – large employer
- $7.87 – small employer
You might have noticed that Minnesota’s minimum wage is higher than the federally-mandated rate of $7.25 per hour. Workers covered both by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and Minnesota labor law are entitled to the higher of these two minimum wages. That’s the vast majority of employees in the State.
Exceptions For “Learners” & Minors
Alongside the general minimum wage requirements, Minnesota also maintains separate rates for “learners” and young workers.
In Minnesota, workers under the age of 18 can be paid a lower wage, even when they work for large employers. Likewise, employees who are under the age of 20 can be paid a lower wage during the first 90 days of training at a new company. You’ll notice, though, that both of these rates are equal to the State’s minimum wage for small employers: $7.75 per hour in 2017 and $7.87 per hour in 2018. In practice, the “learner” and minor worker minimum wages simply allow large employers to pay some workers the rate that a small employer would be paying anyway.
Does Minnesota Have A Tipped Minimum Wage?
No.
Minnesota is very generous to tipped workers, people who make at least $30 in tips every month. Federal law allows employers to pay tipped employees a sub-minimum wage. Most state labor laws permit this sort of “tip credit,” too. But in Minnesota, it’s illegal. Every worker is entitled to at least the applicable minimum wage, regardless of how much they make in tips, according to the State’s Department of Labor & Industry.
Overtime Laws For Hourly & Salaried Employees
As in the realm of minimum wage, Minnesota has its own overtime law. Workers covered by State law become entitled to an overtime wage for all hours worked over 48 in a week. Most workers in Minnesota, however, will also be covered by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which actually has more-generous overtime requirements. Instead of 48 hours, federal law sets the threshold for overtime pay at 40 hours.
When State and federal labor laws are different, federal law kicks in and says that workers are always entitled to the higher wage. Most employees in Minnesota will be covered by both labor laws. As a result, most of these employees will become entitled to overtime pay after working 40 hours in a single workweek.
So Minnesota’s own overtime requirements are mainly designed to catch employees who fall through the cracks in the Fair Labor Standards Act. Normally, only workers at very small companies that only do business in Minnesota will fit the bill. For these employees, who aren’t covered by the FLSA, Minnesota’s overtime law kicks in to pick up some of the slack.
How To Work Out Your Overtime Wages
Overtime wages should be paid at a rate of time-and-a-half, or 1.5-times your regular rate of pay. That’s true for both federal overtime requirements and Minnesota’s own version of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Your regular rate of pay might just be an hourly wage, or it could be an annual salary converted into an hourly wage. To calculate overtime, you’ll still do the same thing: take the amount of money you made in straight wages for the week and divide it by the number of hours you worked.
If you made $600 before overtime wages, while working 46 hours, your basic hourly rate for the week would be around $13. Next, we’ll multiply that hourly rate by 1.5, the ratio defined in both Minnesota and federal law. That turns out to be $19.50, which is your overtime wage for the week. Now, you only receive this higher rate for your 6 overtime hours. The 40 hours you worked before that should be paid at your regular hourly rate, which was $13. Before overtime wages are added in, you’d be making $520. Next, we’ll calculate your total overtime wages, by multiplying $19.50 by 6 hours, to get $117. Your total cash wages for the week should end up being $637.
Learn More About Your Rights
Are you being paid properly? Millions of workers in Minnesota are having their labor rights violated every day, but some don’t have any idea. To learn more about your rights and legal options, contact the experienced wage and hour lawyers at WageAdvocates.com for a free consultation. We’ll discuss your situation in a confidential talk, then outline the possible steps for moving forward.
You may have the right to pursue significant back wages in a civil lawsuit. If we can help, our attorneys offer their services on a contingency-fee basis – you pay us nothing until we secure compensation in your case. Find more information by calling us or completing our online contact form now.