What is the Minimum Wage? And Am I Owed It?

Wage & Hour Law > What is the Minimum Wage? And Am I Owed It?

What is the Minimum Wage? And Am I Owed It?

by Deborah C. England

Federal law sets some wage standards, including a "floor" minimum wage, but many states have also enacted their own wage payment laws. Where those laws are more generous to the employee than the federal law, they apply. Where they are less generous, the federal law applies.

Some types of workers are exempt from minimum wage laws, while workers paid in certain ways (by commission, tips, or piece rate) may be covered by state laws, which vary from state to state. To find out what your state's rules are for wage payment amounts, timing, and final pay, select it from the list below.

What is the Minimum Wage? And Am I Owed It? - State by State

Alaska
Alabama
Arkansas
Arizona
California
Colorado
Connecticut
District of Columbia
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Iowa
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Massachusetts
Maryland
Maine
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Mississippi

Montana
North Carolina
North Dakota
Nebraska
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
Nevada
New York
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Virginia
Vermont
Washington
Wisconsin
West Virginia
Wyoming

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Does My Employer Owe Me Overtime Pay?

Find out if you are entitled to overtime pay under federal or your state law.
What Can I Do If I Am Owed Pay?

Find out how to enforce your right to minimum wage, overtime, tips, meal and rest breaks, and more.

Pennsylvania Wage & Hour Law FAQ

What is the minimum wage in Pennsylvania?
Who earns overtime?
How do I calculate my hourly wage?
What is a tip credit?
Are tip pools legal?
Am I entitled to breaks?
How can I enforce my wage and hour rights?
About this website

What is the minimum wage in Pennsylvania?

The minimum wage is the least you can be paid per hour, by law. You are entitled to earn at least the highest minimum wage that applies to you, whether the standard is federal, state, or local. For example, the federal minimum wage is currently $7.25. If your city or state has passed a law setting a higher minimum wage, your employer must pay you at least that higher amount per hour; it cannot pay you the lower federal minimum wage instead.

The minimum wage represents gross earnings: earnings before deductions, such as tax withholding, are taken. Your actual take-home pay may be less than the minimum wage.

The minimum wage in Pennsylvania is the same as the federal minimum wage: $7.25 an hour.

Who earns overtime?

You qualify for overtime pay if:

you are paid by the hour
you are not exempt (for example, because you hold a “white collar” job), and
you work over 40 hours in a workweek (or 8 hours in a workday in some states).

If you are eligible for overtime, you are entitled to 1-1/2 times your regular hourly rate for each overtime hour worked. Check the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry for the overtime standards in Pennsylvania.

For more information about overtime eligibility, see Am I Entitled to Overtime Pay in Pennsylvania?

How do I calculate my hourly wage?

To calculate your hourly wage, take the total amount you are paid (whether by the hour, as a salary, by piece rate, or on commission) in a pay period, such as one workweek. Divide that total amount by the total number of regular time (not overtime) hours you worked to earn that money. Be sure to count every hour you worked, including time spent working from home (if allowed by your employer) and any break time for which you should be paid, including breaks that lasted 20 minutes or less and breaks during which you had to work. The hourly rate that you come up with must be at least the minimum wage in Pennsylvania.

For more information about your pay rights, see What Are My Rights to Pay for Work in Pennsylvania?

What is a tip credit?

A tip credit is the amount of tips you earn that your employer can count towards its obligation to pay you the minimum wage.

An employer that is allowed to take a tip credit can pay you less than the regular minimum wage, as long as you earn enough in tips to bring your hourly compensation up to at least the minimum wage. Under federal law, for example, the minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, but employers may pay tipped employees as little as $2.13 an hour, as long as the employee earns at least the rest in tips. An employer taking advantage of this lower minimum wage is taking a tip credit of $5.12 an hour.

Not all states allow employers to take a tip credit. Some states that allow a tip credit set the minimum tipped wage amount at $2.13 an hour, like federal law; others have established a higher tipped minimum wage. To find out whether your state allows a tip credit (and, if so, for how much), see What are My Rights to Tips in Pennsylvania?

Are tip pools legal?

Does your employer require you to pool tips? Tip pooling, sometimes called tip sharing or tipping out, is a common practice in establisments where only some employees receive tips directly from customers, especially restaurants.

In a tip pool, tipped employees put a certain amount or percentage of their tips into a pot, which is then shared among a group of employees. Whether a tip pool is legal depends on who shares in the pool, among other things.

The general rule is that tips belong to the employee who received them. However, employees can be required to pay part of their tips into a tip sharing arrangement, as long as it meets these legal requirements:

The employer may not share in the tip pool.
Only employees who regularly and customarily receive tips may share in the tip pool. For example, wait staff, bussers, and bartenders may be part of the tip pool, but "back of the house" employees -- like cooks and dishwashers -- may not.
Only the amount of tips an employee actually takes home counts towards any employer tip credit. In other words, if an employee has to share tips, the employee's hourly wage includes only what the employee got back from the tip pool, not what the employee had to put into the pot.

Am I entitled to breaks?

Believe it or not, employers in many states have no legal obligation to give their employees any breaks during the work day. The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not require employers to provide any breaks, and many states follow the same rule. Other states require employers to provide rest breaks, meal breaks, or both.

A small number of states -- California, Colorado, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington -- require employers to provide paid rest breaks during the work day.

Fewer than half the states require employers to let employees take time off (typically, 30 minutes) to eat a meal. However, employers do not have to pay employees for their meal breaks, as long as the employee does not have to do any work during the break. If you have to work through or during your break, you are entitled to be paid for it. Additionally, under federal law, employees must be paid for any breaks their employer chooses to provide, if they last for 20 minutes or fewer.

To find out what your state requires, see Does My Pennsylvania Employer Have to Give Me Breaks From Work?

How can I enforce my wage and hour rights?

If your employer hasn't paid you overtime, hasn't given you legally required breaks, didn't give you a final paycheck, or has otherwise not paid you everything you are owed, you should take steps to assert your rights. There are three things you can do:

Complain within your company. Use your company's internal complaint process to raise your concerns. Ask the company to investigate and make the situation right. The law protects you from employer retaliation for asserting your wage and hour rights.
File a wage claim. If your company doesn't resolve your complaint to your satisfaction, find out whether your state has an administrative wage claim procedure. In most states, you can file a claim with the state agency that enforces wage and hour laws. Your claim may be investigated, settled, or sent to an administrative hearing, where you can present evidence that you were not paid properly. It's a good idea to talk to an employment lawyer if you are considering filing a wage claim. A lawyer can help you word the complaint properly, present your best evidence persuasively, and reach the best possible outcome -- all while preserving your arguments for court, if things don't work out.
File a lawsuit. If other avenues don't work, you can sue your employer in state or federal court for wage theft. At this point, you will definitely need legal representation to persuade a judge or jury to enter a judgment in your favor.

About this website

Here at Legal Consumer, we want to help people find answers to everyday legal questions about important topics like bankruptcy, Obamacare, inheritance, and more.

Now, we’ve turned our attention to employment law. Because, while almost everyone has (or has had) a job, it can be surprisingly tough to get good, high-quality local information about workplace rights.

Wage and hour questions -- about overtime, minimum wage, tips, paycheck deductions, and more -- come up every day. Your hours for your employer's wages is the basic exchange of the employment relationship. Yet, it can be tough to find accurate, up-to-date, and easily understood information about federal, state, and local wage and hour laws.

On this website, when you choose your state or enter your zip code, you will quickly learn:

the minimum wage where you work
who is eligible for overtime (and how to calculate what you are owed)
when you should get your final paycheck
whether your employer is handling your tips properly
what to do if your employer is violating wage and hour laws,
and more.

We want to make it as easy as possible for you to get the information, forms, and resources you need to understand and enforce your wage and hour rights, so you can make sure you are paid, legally and on time, for all of your work.

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About Deborah C. England

Deborah England has written about employment law for Legal Consumer since 2014. She has been a practicing attorney in San Francisco for 30 years, and she has written books and scores of articles on topics such as sexual harassment, family medical leave, and civil rights law. Deborah volunteers as a supervising attorney for the Workers’ Rights Clinic of the Legal Aid Society. She has a journalism degree from the University of Washington and a law degree from Seattle University.

What is the Minimum Wage? And Am I Owed It?

What is the Minimum Wage? And Am I Owed It?

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