[author: Michael Cardman, XpertHR Legal Editor]
Missouri will increase its minimum wage rate by 10 cents to $7.35 per hour, effective January 1, 2013, the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations announced.
A state statute, +§ 290.502 R.S.Mo, requires the minimum wage rate to be adjusted annually to keep pace with the rate of inflation. This year's increase of 1.4 percent was based on the change in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers between July 2011 and July 2012, rounded to the nearest five cents.
Nine other states also annually adjust their minimum wages based on the rate of inflation.
Once the new minimum wage kicks in, Missouri's minimum wage will be 10 cents 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 Missouri's minimum wage requirements but not those of the federal government.
Missouri employers that have employees receive gratuities as a form of compensation may not pay those employees less than 50 percent of the minimum wage rate. The total compensation for the employee (wage plus gratuity) must at least equal the minimum wage rate. Any deficiency must be made up by the employer. +Mo. Rev. Stat. § 290.512; see Credit for Tipped Employees: Missouri. Once the new minimum wage kicks in on January 1, 2013, the new minimum wage for tipped employees will be $3.68 per hour.
