Wheeling Mayor Andy McKenzie believes that W.Va. House Bill 428, raising the state’s minimum hourly wage and forcing new overtime requirements on employers, will have an adverse effect on the city’s coffers. Click here to read about McKenzie’s concern that the bill could cost his city $300,000 a year in firefighter overtime.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Despite acknowledging the state’s minimum wage bill contained “unintended consequences” — namely changing how overtime is paid to all workers — Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin on Tuesday dismissed the business community’s concerns by signing the flawed bill into law.
The new law, which will raise the minimum wage to $8.75 per hour by 2016, also changes how overtime is paid in West Virginia. In Wheeling alone, city taxpayers could be forced to pay an additional $400,000 annually in overtime to police and firefighters.
Businesses also have a short time-frame to figure out how to comply with the changes, which take place June 6.
Among other problems, the law removes the overtime exemption status for police and firefighters, for computer professionals and for those making more than $100,000 annually.
Tomblin said he met with legislative leaders before signing the bill about the problems and how they could be fixed. However, once lobbying efforts begin, there is no certainty the bill will be fixed.
Senate President Jeff Kessler, D-Marshall, has acknowledged the problems with the bill but urged the governor to sign it anyway…
