Missouri minimum wage now $7.25

Missouri's minimum wage has increased 20 cents per hour as a result of a federal minimum wage rate adjustment on Friday.

The federal rate is now $7.25 per hour, and Missouri law requires the state to match the federal rate, according to a Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations news release.

The wage law applies to all employers except retail or service businesses that gross less than $500,000 in sales annually. Tipped employees must be paid half of the state minimum wage rate, or $3.625 per hour; if those employees don't make up the other half of the rate in tips, the employer is required to pay the difference, the release said.

The department also is required to adjust Missouri's minimum wage every year based on the federal consumer price index. The department will measure changes in the index Sept. 30, and Missouri's minimum wage could be increased as a result, according to the release. That increase would be effective Jan. 1, 2010. A decrease in the index, however, does not require the state's minimum wage rate to be lowered, because the rate cannot be less than the federal rate.

Since the new minimum wage law went into effect Jan. 1, 2007, the department has received 1,543 wage complaints from employees, resulting in 469 violations.