State of Florida minimum wage will increase on January 1, 2008

Kyle J. Cavanaugh, Senior Vice President for Administration

Effective January 1, 2008, the state of Florida’s minimum wage will increase to $6.79 per hour. Florida’s minimum wage increase was created in a constitutional amendment approved by voters on November 2, 2004, and covers all employees in the state covered by the federal minimum wage. According to this amendment, any adjustment made will be effective on January 1 of each year.

Florida’s minimum wage is more than the current federal minimum wage of $5.85. In deciding whether the federal or state minimum wage applies, federal law directs that businesses must pay the higher of the two. The Florida minimum wage will prevail over the federal rate unless the federal minimum wage becomes higher than the state rate.

At the University of Florida, the new minimum wage will affect OPS employees, student assistants, and federal work study students. Departments do not need to take any action to increase the pay of current employees who are below this new minimum, but are asked to enter any terminations that will take place in December as early as possible.

This minimum wage increase does not affect TEAMS or USPS employees since the university’s minimum pay for these positions is $8.84 per hour effective October 1, 2006.

Additional information, such as the date the job rows will be added, will be announced in future issues of the InfoGator newsletter, at HR Forums, and the Human Resource Services web site.