[author: Michael Cardman, XpertHR Legal Editor]
Vermont's minimum wage rate will increase 14 cents, from $8.46 to $8.60, effective January 1, 2013, the Vermont Department of Labor announced today.
A state statute, +21 V.S.A. § 384, requires the minimum wage rate to be adjusted annually to keep pace with the rate of inflation. This year's increase of 1.7 percent is based on the change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers between September 2011 and September 2012.
Nine other states also annually adjust their minimum wages based on the rate of inflation.
Once the new minimum wage kicks in, Vermont's minimum wage will be $1.35 higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. The higher state minimum wage will apply except in rare cases in which an employee is exempt from Vermont's minimum wage requirements, but not those of the federal government.
Vermont currently allows employers to pay employees such as servers, bellhops, busboys, car wash attendants, hairdressers, barbers, valets and bartenders who customarily and regularly receive at least $120 per month in tips or gratuities a wage of $4.10. See Credit for Tipped Employees: Vermont On January 1, 2013, the new minimum wage for tipped employees will be $4.17 per hour.
Vermont also is adjusting the amounts that employers are entitled to deduct from the wages earned for meals and lodging actually furnished and accepted. See Board and Lodging: Vermont.
