Effective Tuesday Delaware’s minimum wage has increased. The hourly minimum wage is now $9.25.
The Delaware Restaurant Association noted that the minimum wage did not go up for tipped workers and offered the following information:
Delaware’s minimum wage for those earning tips (servers, bartenders, etc.) remains at $2.23 per hour. There had been efforts in Dover to raise the wage.
The maximum tip credit that employers may take against its minimum wage obligation increases from $6.52 to $7.02. $7.02 is the minimum overtime rate that can be paid to a tipped employee.
Employees under 18 years of age and those over 18 years of age within their first 90 days of employment may be paid at a rate that is 50 cents less than the current minimum wage.
This youth and training wage shall be no less than $8.75 per hour.
Efforts to put the state on a track to a $15 an hour minimum wage did not move forward in the General Assembly. Opposition from business groups, including the Restaurant Association helped to kill the bill.
The $9.25 figure was part of a phased-in increase in the minimum wage that was approved earlier by the General Assembly. The compromise legislation included the youth and training wages.
Efforts to end the lower training and youth wage failed in the past session.
Public support has remained strong for a higher minimum wage, based on previous polls.
A worsening labor shortage in many industries has led many employers to pay well above the minimum wage. However, critics claim the higher base wage leads to higher-paid employees also getting pay hikes in the interest of fairness.
At the same time, recent restaurant chain Chapter 11 filings have claimed that rising minimum wages contributed to decisions to seek bankruptcy protection.
