Minimum wage: how StartEase checks it

What the minimum wage is, which one applies to your people, and what happens when pay is below it.

What the minimum wage is

The lowest hourly pay the law allows. There are up to three levels:

1. Federal: the federal minimum.
2. State: some states set their own. Some follow the federal figure.
3. Local: some cities and counties set a higher one.

Which one applies: the highest that applies where the employee works, on the pay date. StartEase picks it for you.

Who is checked

• Non-exempt employees: hourly staff, and salaried staff who still earn overtime. A salary is divided by 2,080 hours to get an hourly figure.
• The effective rate too: pay divided by hours actually worked. A low salary with long hours can fall below the minimum even when the stated rate does not.
• Tipped employees: cash wage plus tips must reach the full minimum.
• Exempt employees are checked against a salary minimum instead.
• The pay date decides which rate applies. A rate that starts next month does not apply to this month's payroll.

When it blocks

When your payroll team sends the payroll and again when you approve it. If someone is paid less than the legal minimum, you see the red dialog with ERR_MIN_WAGE (see the screenshot in Why can't I approve my payroll?). Nothing is approved.

What you do

1. Contact your payroll manager and quote ERR_MIN_WAGE.
2. They raise the pay to at least the legal minimum, or correct the hours entered.
3. They send the payroll to you again, and you approve it.

What the law says

If the message says "setup item"

ERR_MIN_WAGE_TABLE is not about your pay. StartEase keeps a table of minimum wages and a row is missing for your state or city on that date. StartEase stops rather than guess. The StartEase team adds it from the official source. Contact your payroll manager.