What is the Minimum Wage in Alabama?

Alabama is one of the five states that has not passed any state legislation setting a minimum wage, which means that it therefore defaults to the federal minimum wage. While there is a court case in motion that aims to raise the minimum wage, Alabama will likely not see results either way for several years.

2019 Minimum Wage in Alabama: $7.25 per hour

Because Alabama does not have their own minimum wage legislation, it defaults to the federal minimum wage in that case, which is currently $7.25 per hour.

However, there are a few exceptions:

• If the employee is under the age of 20, they can be paid $4.25 per hour for the first 90 days of employment only, according to the Fair Labor Standards Act.
• Full-time vocational students can be paid 75 percent of the minimum wage ($5.44 per hour).
• Full-time students employed part-time at a retail store, in agriculture, or at a college can be paid 85 percent of the minimum wage ($6.16 per hour).

Tipped Minimum Wage: $2.13 per hour

One of the biggest exceptions to the minimum wage affects tipped workers, such as servers, bell boys, or drivers. They are allowed to be paid significantly less, under the assumption that their tips will fill the gap.

In Alabama, tipped employees can be paid $2.13 per hour. If their tips plus their hourly wage do not add up to at least $7.25 per hour worked, then their employer must make up the difference. Since the minimum wage for tipped workers is so low in Alabama, it’s especially important that everyone follows tip etiquette.

Weekly: $290

The weekly minimum wage is calculated by taking the minimum wage, $7.25, and multiplying it by the number of hours in a full work week (40 hours). However, it’s important to remember that not every employee is able to work a full 40 hours a week, and may see a lower weekly wage as a result.

Annually: $15,080

This is calculated by taking the weekly minimum wage, $290, and multiplying it by 52, the number of weeks in a year. This does not account for holidays, and employees don’t always receive holiday pay.

Depending upon the living situation, $15,080 can be tough to stretch out over a year. Employees can either ask for more hours or for a higher hourly wage.

Overtime: $10.88 per hour

Overtime pay kicks in whenever an employee works over 40 hours a week. For every hour worked over 40 hours, the employee should be paid one and a half times their hourly wage.

In Alabama, the minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. One and half that wage is $10.88 per hour.

Alabama Minimum Wage Increase News

There are no current plans to raise the minimum wage in Alabama.

However, some groups have tried to lobby for a higher minimum wage in the past. Birmingham wanted to raise their minimum wage to $10.10 per hour, a significant increase from the $7.25 minimum now.

The state legislature responded by passing a bill that forbade communities from setting their own minimum wage in contrast to the state’s rate (or lack thereof). Birmingham workers took this case to court, but no final judgement has been made as of yet. The minimum wage in Birmingham is still $7.25 per hour.

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Dayton is a chronic Wikipedia addict, which is detrimental to her social life but stellar for her writing. She resides in Boise, ID, surrounded by her own frantic outlines, highlighted encyclopedias, and potatoes. The latter was not by choice.

This post was updated June 5, 2019. It was originally published June 5, 2019.