[cw30000]

Just received communication from my company HQ that effective 6/1/2011, Florida's minimum wage will be $7.31

[chopchop0]

A 6 cent increase? woo hoo

Florida minimum wage to rise to $7.31 - Sun Sentinel

In 2004, Floridians voted by a 72 percent to 28 percent margin to amend the state’s Constitution to enact for the first time a state minimum wage. Under the voter-approved amendment, the state minimum wage increases every January to keep pace with any increase in the cost of living during the preceding year, and does not decrease in those rare instances where the cost of living dips.


In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs charged that the state had used an erroneous formula in calculating annual adjustments in the minimum wage, instead of using the method required by the Florida Constitution. The agency’s method resulted in a decrease to Florida’s 2010 minimum wage and would have artificially held down subsequent increases, including 2011’s, by factoring in a brief dip in the cost of living during 2009.


Judge Lewis ruled that under the Florida Constitution, the minimum wage can never be decreased and that, accordingly, the correct minimum wage this year is $7.31 – six cents more than the $7.25 federal minimum wage. Judge Lewis’ ruling also requires that the state calculate future annual increases to the minimum wage using the formula laid out in Florida’s Constitution.