In a recent article, we highlighted the January 1, 2018, minimum wage increase under the Workforce Opportunity Wage Act, Public Act 138 of 2014 (“the Act”). We now want to remind readers of three “special situations” under the Act:

1. An employer may pay a newly hired employee aged 16 to 19 $4.25 per hour for the first 90 days of employment;

2. An employer may pay 85 percent of the minimum wage to employees aged 16 and 17; and

3. An employer may take a tip credit on minimum wage under certain conditions for those employees who customarily and regularly receive tips, provided certain conditions are satisfied. If a credit is taken for gratuities received by an employee, the employment records for each pay period shall contain the credit that was taken along with a written statement of the amount of gratuities received by the employee, and the statement must be signed by the employee and dated before the date the paycheck was received. The tipped employee minimum hourly wage rate is $3.52 (provided reported tips per hour average at least $5.73).

The Act does not alter the requirement that overtime non-exempt employees be paid one and a half times their regular rate of pay for hours worked exceeding 40 hours in a workweek.

Call Wright Beamer at (248) 477-6300 today if you have any questions or need assistance.