State minimum-wage laws

Information on this page is about Minnesota's state minimum-wage laws.

Information about how the July 24, 2009, change to the federal minimum-wage increase impacts Minnesota businesses is available here.

wages There are both state-minimum-wage laws and federal-minimum-wage laws. In cases where an employee is subject to both the state and federal minimum wage laws, the employee is entitled to the higher of the two minimum wages.

Minimum-wage rates apply to all hours worked, whether part time or full time. No employer may take a tip credit against the state or federal set minimum wages under Minnesota law. For example, if an employee is subject to the federal minimum wage, the employee must be paid at least that minimum wage per hour plus any tips the employee might earn. Employees must be paid the current minimum-wage rate, regardless of the method of compensation.

A partial list of exempt employees includes: babysitters, taxicab drivers, volunteers of nonprofit organizations, elected government officials, people providing police or fire protection and employees subject to the provisions of the U.S. Department of Transportation (drivers, drivers' helpers, mechanics and loaders).

Notice: The following state minimum-wage dollar amounts apply as of Aug. 1, 2005.

Large employer -- $6.15 an hour

"Large employer" is defined as any enterprise whose annual gross volume of sales made or business done is not less than $625,000.

(Note: The federal minimum wage for all employers grossing more than $500,000 is $7.25 an hour as of July 24, 2009, so the Minnesota large-employer rate of $6.15 an hour is obsolete as of that date.)

Small employer -- $5.25 an hour

"Small employer" is defined as any enterprise whose annual gross volume of sales made or business done is less than $625,000.

Training wage -- $4.90 an hour

An employer may pay $4.90 an hour to new employees who are younger than age 20 during their first 90 consecutive days of employment. Permanent or current employees may not be displaced by new employees covered by the training wage.

Minnesota minimum-wage report

This series of occasional reports describes trends in Minnesota's population of hourly minimum-wage workers since 1997 and presents characteristics of these workers. The report deals with minimum-wage workers within the population of all hourly workers age 15 years and older in Minnesota. The statistics are estimates computed from the Current Population Survey (CPS), conducted monthly by the U.S. Census for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.