Minimum wage increase proposed
Local business owners express concern about $9.50 per hour
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WORLAND - Raising Wyoming’s minimum wage will once again be debated by the Wyoming Legislature next year.
For the last two years Representative Jim Byrd, D – Cheyenne has proposed raising the minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to $9 per hour with the bill being defeated both years. This year Rep Byrd has proposed raising the minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to $9.50, according to the Associated Press.
The Federal minimum wage sits at $7.25 per hour and with few exceptions over rules the state minimum wage. “The federal minimum wage supersedes the state minimum wage, “Wyoming Local Workforce Center workforce specialist Dan Garcia stated.
According to employmentlawhandbook.com, “In states where the state minimum wage law differs from the federal minimum wage law, the question is raised as to which law an employer must apply to its employees. The answer is that an employer must apply the minimum wage law that results in its employees being paid the highest wage rate. Thus, if the state minimum wage rate is higher than the federal rate and no exceptions apply, an employer would be required to pay its employees the state minimum wage rate, and vice versa.”
So the real discussion is whether the state should create a minimum wage that is higher than the federal minimum wage. “I support raising the minimum wage but not higher than the federal minimum wage. What gets me is the food service industry,” State Senator Gerald Geis, R – Worland said, adding that he would like to see wait staff paid the minimum wage plus tips, which would make a livable wage.
Some businesses find that raising the minimum wage will not affect them at all. “I pay my employees more than that ($9.50) and I think that they need more than that to survive. It would be very hard to live any place with $9.50 an hour as minimum wage. It takes two (incomes) anymore to make a livelihood for anybody,” Brown’s Western Appliance owner Barb Brown stated.
Other businesses feel that raising the minimum wage will hurt their business. “Raising the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour would affect my business a lot. I would have to raise my prices to just be able to afford the taxes,” Rumors owner Tim Hislop said.
“Raising the minimum wage would affect us immensely. It’s hard enough to take care of what we have at $7 to $8 per hour. It would be a detriment to us six months out of the year,” Worland Days Inn General Manager Tommy Newell said.
