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State Lawmaker Proposes To Raise Subminimum Wage

Pennies
Reza/Flickr Creative Commons

An Oklahoma City lawmaker plans to file legislation next year to raise the subminimum wage for some service-sector employees.

Democratic Rep. Mike Shelton says that under current law workers younger than 20, workers who earn tips and some other categories of employees can legally be paid below-minimum hourly wages.

An employer whose workers receive tips is required to pay a minimum wage of $2.13 per hour, provided that amount plus the tips equals at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. That equates to $290 per week for a full-time, 40-hour employee.

Shelton says he wants to raise the state's subminimum wage from $2.13 per hour to $4.25 over a three-year period.

The Oklahoma Policy Institute says Oklahoma has the fourth-highest share of low-paying jobs in the U.S.

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