What is the lowest salary by law?
Asked by: Magnus Schmitt | Last update: November 2, 2025Score: 4.7/5 (63 votes)
The federal minimum wage for covered nonexempt employees is $7.25 per hour.
What is the lowest legal wage that can be paid?
The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. This rate applies to covered nonexempt workers. The minimum wage for employees who receive tips is $2.13 per hour. The amount of tips plus the $2.13 must reach at least $7.25 per hour.
What is the lowest paying law job?
We find that within the legal industry, certain segments are known to offer lower compensation. Typically, public defenders, legal aid attorneys, and lawyers working for nonprofit organizations are among the lowest paid.
What is the lowest salary you can make?
State Minimum Wages Summary
Five states have not adopted a state minimum wage: Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee. Three states, Georgia, Oklahoma and Wyoming, have a minimum wage below $7.25 per hour. In all eight of these states, the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour generally applies.
What is the legal minimum wage?
Basic Minimum Rate (per hour): $16.50
California Labor Code section 510. Exceptions apply to an employee working pursuant to an alternative workweek adopted pursuant to applicable Labor Code sections and for time spent commuting. (See Labor Code section 510 for exceptions).
The Minimum Wage Explained in One Minute
What is the lowest legal wage?
The federal minimum wage for covered nonexempt employees is $7.25 per hour. Many states also have minimum wage laws. In cases where an employee is subject to both the state and federal minimum wage laws, the employee is entitled to the higher of the two minimum wages.
What is the new salary law in 2024?
The DOL's 2024 final rule increased this minimum salary threshold for EAP exempt employees from $684 per week to $844 per week (equivalent to $43,888 per year) on July 1 and mandated a second increase to $1,128 per week (equivalent to $58,656 per year) to take place January 1, 2025.
What is considered a low salary?
These guidelines are adjusted each year for inflation. In 2023, the federal poverty level definition of low income for a single-person household is $14,580 annually. Each additional person in the household adds $5,140 to the total. For example, the poverty guideline is $30,000 per year for a family of four.
What are the laws around salary employees?
As a salaried exempt employee, you must make at least double the yearly amount that a minimum wage hourly worker would make working a 40-hour work week each week. Beginning in 2023, California established that the minimum wage in the state is $15.50 an hour; however, depending on where you're located, it might be more.
How much is $16 an hour annually?
If you make $16 an hour, your yearly salary would be $33,280.
Does law actually pay well?
Lawyer salaries by state
Lawyers in these states earn the highest median salaries: California ($175,680) New York ($172,880)
What is the highest paying job in the world?
Topping the list, being a CEO gets you the highest paying job in the world, no matter where you work. A CEO is the highest-ranked position in any organisation's structure. Irrespective of the company's size, a CEO handles all its day-to-day corporate affairs, manages resources and handles all managerial processes.
Which law has highest salary?
- Civil litigation attorney. ...
- Real estate attorney. ...
- Intellectual property attorney. ...
- Bankruptcy lawyer. ...
- Family lawyer. ...
- Tax attorney. ...
- Corporate attorney. ...
- Patent attorney.
What is the lowest pay rate allowed by law called?
The federal minimum wage provisions are contained in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009. Many states also have minimum wage laws. Some state laws provide greater employee protections; employers must comply with both.
What is the lowest wage an employer is allowed to pay?
National Minimum wage
The minimum wage of R25. 42 per hour increased to R27,58 per hour with effect 1 March 2024.
What minimum wage job pays the most?
- Phlebotomist. ...
- Restaurant Server. ...
- Retail Sales Associate. ...
- School Bus Driver. ...
- Shipping Clerk. Average base pay: $17.72 per hour. ...
- Translator. Average base pay: $21.71 per hour. ...
- Tutor. Average base pay: $9.78 per hour. ...
- Veterinary Receptionist. Average base pay: $13.44 an hour.
What is the lowest salary to be exempt?
As of January 1, 2025, to be considered an exempt employee in the U.S., a worker must be paid a minimum salary of $684 per week, or $35,568 per year. Exempt workers in California, meanwhile, must be paid a salary that is at least twice the state's minimum wage. The 2025 California minimum wage is $16.50 per hour.
Can my employer force me to go salary?
When this happens, it is generally in violation of the state and federal wage and hour rules. If your employer has changed your pay from an hourly wage to a salary and is claiming that you are now exempt from the overtime requirements, talk to the attorneys at Swartz Swidler for help.
Which is a disadvantage of being a salaried employee?
The drawbacks of receiving salary pay include: No overtime: Companies are not required to pay overtime to salaried employees, although some do. If you work 60 hours in a week rather than just 40 hours, you may not be eligible for overtime pay or compensated for your time.
Is 25k a year poor?
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services uses the Census Bureau threshold to determine who is eligible for certain government assistance programs, like SNAP (food stamps). Under their guidelines, a family of four is considered impoverished if they earn $30,000 or less per year.
Is $17 an hour low income?
According to new data from Oxfam, there are more than 39 million low wage workers in the United States, defined here as any worker earning less than $17 an hour. This translates to 23 percent of the US workforce, or nearly one in four workers in the US.
Is $40,000 salary low?
Is $40K a Good Salary? Earning more than the average worker is one way to determine whether a salary is “good.” With that in mind, how does a $40,000 salary stack up? As of 2024, it falls below the average annual salary in the U.S., which, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), is $59,228.
What is the new federal law on salaried employees?
What Are the Key Changes? Changes are meant to reflect inflation and increased living costs. As a result, thresholds tend to move upward rather than downward: Minimum Salary Threshold: The new rule raises the standard salary level from $35,568 per year ($684 per week) to $58,656 annually ($1,128 per week).
What is the federal minimum wage?
An individual who works 40 hours per week, 52 weeks per year at the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour makes $15,080 per year. That amount has not increased since 2009, the longest period of stagnation in the history of federal minimum wage law.
What is the most hours a salaried employee can work?
Salaried positions don't have specified maximum or minimum hour requirements. If an employee works more than 40 hours per week, their pay won't reflect overtime hours. Likewise, if they work fewer than 40 hours per week, their pay will stay the same.