A federal minimum wage hike is expected to pass in the Senate in the near future. A similar bill has already been cleared in the house. If the federal minimum wage is increased, how will that affect the District of Columbia minimum wage? Will it remain the same or change?
Under District law, if the federal minimum wage increases, the District of Columbia minimum wage will also increase. Under statute, the D.C. minimum wage will increase to $1 more than the federal minimum wage rate.
This is important because under federal law, workers are entitled to the higher wage. The federal law specifies that when state law differs from the federal law, workers are covered by whichever law provides the greater benefit. This is true in D.C. even though it is technically not a state. So, if the D. C. minimum wage is higher than the federal minimum wage, it applies to all workers in the district.
Currently, the District of Columbia minimum wage is $7.00 per hour. However, under District law, the District of Columbia minimum wage is automatically replaced with a higher rate if the federal minimum wage goes up.
The federal minimum wage bill currently before Congress would increase the minimum wage by a total of $2.10 over 26 months. The changes would occur in three steps of 70 cents each. The first incremental increase, from $5.15 per hour to $5.85 per hour would occur just 60 days after the federal minimum wage bill was passed. That change would have little effect on the District of Columbia minimum wage, since it is already higher at $7.00 per hour. Under state and federal law, employees who are covered by both minimum wage laws are entitled to the higher benefit. So in this case, the District of Columbia minimum wage of $7.00 would prevail.
The second incremental increase in the federal minimum wage would occur 14 months after the bill is signed by the President. That’s probably in the spring of 2008. At that time, the federal minimum wage increases by 70 cents to $6.55 per hour. At that time, the District of Columbia minimum wage will be $7.00 per hour. When that occurs, the District of Columbia minimum wage would automatically increase to $7.55 per hour for all employees.
The final 70-cent increase in the federal minimum wage will occur 26 months after the present bill is signed into law. At that time, the federal minimum wage will increase by 70 cents to $7.25 per hour. At that point, the District of Columbia minimum wage would be $7.55 per hour under the current law. So, the federal minimum wage would increase and by statute, the District of Columbia minimum wage would also increase to $8.25 per hour around April or May 2008.
