Connecticut’s minimum wage will increase on Jan. 1 from the current rate of $8.70 an hour to $9.15 per hour.
The increase is the result of a new law passed earlier this year that sets in motion a series of modest increases through 2017. Following this week’s increase, the minimum wage is scheduled to increase to $9.60 on Jan. 1, 2016, and then to $10.10 on Jan. 1, 2017.
“Connecticut was the first state in the nation to commit to increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour because we want to make sure that no one who works full time lives in poverty,” Governor Dannel Malloy said in a press release. “This latest increase is just one more part of a phased-in series of gradual increases for hard-working men and women, many of whom are supporting their families and who will put this increase directly into Connecticut’s economy.”
Under Section 31-60 of the Connecticut General Statutes, the Connecticut minimum wage rates for service employees, specifically restaurant waitpersons or bartenders, are determined by using a formula that takes tip deductions into account. The rates can be found on the Connecticut Department of Labor’s Web site at www.ct.gov/dol or by calling the Labor Department’s Division of Wage and Workplace Standards at 860-263-6790.