Minimum wage is the lowest hourly rate an employer can pay an employee, and each state can set their own minimum wage. On January 1, Nebraska’s minimum wage went up to $12.00 an hour. An employer with four or more employees must pay at least minimum wage.
However, after voters passed this initiative, the Legislature added a few exceptions, so not all employees will receive the minimum wage.
Tipped employees, like waitresses or waiters, still get $2.13 an hour. That rate was set decades ago when it was half of the minimum wage of $4.25. However, employers are responsible for making sure an employee’s wages and tips (the law calls them gratuities) equal at least minimum wage, and they must make up any difference. This also applies to people who receive commissions or bonuses.
An employer may pay a new employee younger than 20 a training wage of at least 75% of the minimum wage for 90 days from the date the new employee was hired. This does not apply to seasonal or migrant workers. Seasonal workers are employed for twenty weeks or less. For example, a 19-year old lifeguard cannot be paid 75% of the minimum wage.
The 75% training wage allowance is a lot more complicated. The employer may have the training period extended an additional 90 days if the trainee is participating in on-the-job training, and the Department of Labor approves it because it requires special technical or personal skills. However, after the initial 90-day training period, no more than one-fourth of the employee’s work hours may be paid at the reduced amount. AND Employers may not pay employees the training wage rate if other employees have their hours reduced or have been laid off if the new employee is doing similar work.
Nebraska minimum wage laws allow employers to pay student-learners a subminimum wage rate that is no less than 75% of the standard minimum wage if they work as part of a bona-fide vocational training program. This would apply to students in a cooperative education program, but not to other student workers.
Employees with physical or mental disabilities might not receive minimum wage if they receive federal, state, county, or local aid or welfare, whether directly or indirectly, and they work in a rehabilitation program. This includes veterans. Such employees may be paid a subminimum wage rate at a level appropriate to their health, efficiency, and general well-being.
The law gets even more complicated and grants more exceptions because not everyone who works for another is classified as an employee. The term Employee, under state law, shall not include any individual who is employed: in agriculture; as a baby-sitter in or about a private home; as an apprentice; in an executive, administrative, or professional capacity or as a superintendent or supervisor; people who volunteer for educational, charitable, religious, or nonprofit organizations; an individual employed by the United States government; or a child in the employment of his or her parent or a parent in the employment of his or her child.
Employers who think they don’t have to meet the minimum wage requirement really should get a legal opinion, as there is nothing simple about this law!