Revision: Sept. 27, 2022, 9:03 a.m.
2023 SESSION
23-0007.0
05/04
HOUSE BILL [bill number]
AN ACT relative to the state minimum hourly rate.
SPONSORS: [sponsors]
COMMITTEE: [committee]
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ANALYSIS
This bill increases the minimum hourly rate, increases the base rate for tipped employees, and adjusts both rates annually based on the most recent 12-month average of the consumer price index. The bill also requires a youth minimum wage for employees under 18 years of age.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
23-0007.0
05/04
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Three
AN ACT relative to the state minimum hourly rate.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Minimum Hourly Rate. Amend the introductory paragraph of RSA 279:21 to read as follows:
279:21 Minimum Hourly Rate. Unless otherwise provided by statute, no person, firm, or corporation shall employ any employee at an hourly rate lower than that set forth in the federal minimum wage law, as amended, or the following minimum hourly rate, whichever is higher:
$13.50 per hour effective September 1, 2023.
$14.25 per hour effective January 1, 2024.
$15 per hour effective January 1, 2025.
Beginning January 1, 2026, and each January 1 thereafter, the minimum hourly rate for employees and the base rate for tipped employees shall be adjusted according to the increase in the cost of living according to the Northeast consumer price index for the most recent 12-month period as determined by the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. The adjustment to the minimum hourly rate for employees and the base rate for tipped employees shall not result in a decrease to either rate.
Tipped employees of a restaurant, hotel, motel, inn or cabin, or ballroom who customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips directly from the customers will receive a base rate from the employer of not less than [45] 50 percent of the applicable minimum [wage] hourly rate. If an employee shows to the satisfaction of the commissioner that the actual amount of wages received at the end of each pay period did not equal the minimum [wage] hourly rate for all hours worked, the employer shall pay the employee the difference to guarantee the applicable minimum [wage] hourly rate. The limitations imposed hereby shall be subject to the following exceptions:
2 New Paragraph; Minimum Hourly Rate; Youth Minimum Wage. Amend RSA 279:21 by inserting after paragraph VIII the following new paragraph:
IX. The minimum hourly rate for a person under 18 years of age shall be $8 per hour for the first 6 months of employment, and thereafter shall increase to the minimum hourly rate applicable under this section.