“Our investigations found that several restaurants violated the FLSA by paying employees flat salaries for all hours worked without overtime pay, failing to combine hours worked at multiple locations for overtime purposes, paying incorrect overtime rates to tipped employees, making illegal deductions from employees’ wages and failing to keep accurate records of employees’ hours,” said George A. Rioux, the division’s district director in Boston. “Even more serious, our investigations found an emerging trend of misclassifying restaurant workers as independent contractors in order to avoid minimum wage, overtime and record-keeping requirements of the FLSA.”

The division plans to coordinate with state agencies responsible for enforcing state laws that address such violations and may refer these types of cases to the Internal Revenue Service when appropriate. The division also plans to continue outreach and educational efforts with the Massachusetts Restaurant Association to help the organization’s members comply with the law.

The FLSA requires that covered employees be paid at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour as well as time and one-half their regular rates for every hour they work beyond 40 per week. The law also requires employers to maintain accurate records of employees’ wages, hours and other conditions of employment, and prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who exercise their rights under the law. The FLSA provides that employers who violate the law are, as a general rule, liable to employees for back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages.

The department has a smartphone application to help employees independently track the hours they work and determine the wages they are owed. Available in English and Spanish, users can track regular work hours, break time and any overtime hours for one or more employers. This new technology is significant because, instead of relying on their employers’ records, workers now can keep their own records. This and other Labor Department apps are available at http://www.dol.gov/dol/apps.

For more information about this topic, contact Rick Casmass ]]> http://www.valiant.com/employment-law/u-s-labor-department-initiative-finds-more-than-1-3-million-in-back-wages-due-to-478-underpaid-massachusetts-employees-ongoing-labor-law-enforcement-efforts-aim-to-remedy-violations-in-restaurant-i/feed/ 0 http://www.valiant.com/employment-law/6-keys-to-keeping-unpaid-internships-from-becoming-a-wage-hour-mess/ http://www.valiant.com/employment-law/6-keys-to-keeping-unpaid-internships-from-becoming-a-wage-hour-mess/#comments Tue, 15 May 2012 15:48:33 +0000 Valiant http://www.valiant.com/?p=4908 This article was originally published on Eric B. Meyer’s blog, The Employer Handbook:

Generally, individuals who are “suffered or permitted” to work must be compensated under the law for the services they perform for an employer. Under federal law, the compensation must be at least $7.25 per hour. Plus, if the employee is non-exempt, the employee must be paid OT (time and a half) for all hours worked over 40 in a work week.
But…


There is an exception for internships and training programs. Yes, you too can have free labor under the FLSA, provided that six criteria are met:
• The internship, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to training which would be given in an educational environment
• The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern
• The intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing staff
• The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern; and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded
• The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship
• The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship.

ALL factors must be met — or else. If all of the factors listed above are met, an employment relationship does not exist under the FLSA, and minimum wage and overtime provisions will not apply. However, violate any one of them, or any of the more restrictive state laws that may exist where you have interns — New Jersey, for example, has a nine-factor trainee test — and it will be a cruel summer.

For more information about this topic, contact Jeff DiDomenico at Valiant.

Contract modifications (frequently referred to as “mods”) are fairly commonplace in today’s federal procurement environment. Whenever the Government wants something different than what was envisioned for the original contract or when something unforeseen occurs, a modifications become necessary.

Ideally, modifications may be anticipated from the moment the Government’s requirement is identified, such as for periodic price revisions due to the use of an economic price adjustment clause in an upcoming contract. Most government contracts contain provisions which, under certain conditions, render the government liable to make adjustments in the contract price. Such liability may arise due to changes in specifications, government-caused delay, changed conditions, increased overhead rates, etc.

Often times, misinterpretations and miscommunication of requirements don’t come to light until the contract is already underway. Conditions for how to proceed in these cases are set out in the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) standard contract clauses such as the “Changes” clause, “Government Property” clause, or “Negotiated Overhead Rates” clause.

For the acquisition of commercial items, the Government does not have authority to unilaterally require changes. The commercial item clause at FAR 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions – Commercial Items, requires that both parties agree to changes in the terms and conditions of a contract. When this occurs, a supplemental agreement is created.

For non-commercial Item contracts, the changes clause is the cornerstone of the Government’s ability to modify a contract for non-commercial items. It provides the Government with authority that is unmatched in private-sector contracting. This clause allows the Government to unilaterally make changes in the contract without requiring the contractor’s concurrence.

Commonly used clauses in contract changes: FAR 52.243-1, FAR 52.243-2, FAR 52.243-3, FAR 52.243-4, FAR 52.243-5

The complexity of federal and state laws, the relative ease of winning class action certification and workers laid off as a result of the weak economy have led to more litigation in recent years, observers say.

For example, the Department of Labor said there were 40,000 wage-and-hour complaints during fiscal 2010, up about 15% from the roughly 35,000 complaints in fiscal 2009.

Many claims fall into two major categories: misclassification of workers as exempt, and unpaid overtime, observers say.

However, employers can minimize the chances of litigation by taking steps that include periodic audits to determine whether employees are being properly classified, as well as careful recordkeeping.

When employers are sued, experts say settling the case may be the wiser course. Wage-and-hour litigation is the fastest-growing type of class action, legal experts say.

“If you asked me what was the headache that kept folks up at night five years ago when it comes to workplace-related lawsuits, I’d say employment discrimination lawsuits,” said Gerald L. Maatman Jr., a partner with law firm Seyfarth Shaw L.L.P. in Chicago.

“Today, the headache that keeps people awake at night” is wage-and-hour litigation, he said. “If you’re interested in saving money and avoiding the courthouse, I think that’s the No. 1 issue right now,” Maatman said. “Every year we think we’re at the top of the bell curve, but we haven’t reached that yet.”

“It’s one of the biggest threats to employers from an employment law standpoint,” said Brian T. McMillan, a shareholder with Littler Mendelson P.C. in San Jose, California. “Plaintiff attorneys have kind of stumbled upon what is now the litigation du jour,” which can mean “enormous liability” for employers as well as plaintiffs’ ability to recover attorney fees, he said.

Among reasons for the lawsuits’ growth is establishing a class action under the Fair Labor Standards Act is relatively easy under the federal rules of civil procedures, said Paul J. Siegel, a partner with Jackson Lewis L.L.P. in Melville, New York.

The FLSA, which was created in 1938 to protect industrial workers from exploitation, guarantees employees time-and-a-half-pay for hours worked beyond a 40-hour week, unless they are salaried and fall into one of three main exempt categories: professional, executive or administrative.

Observers say even if the time at issue is just a few minutes per worker, a class action can add up to substantial costs for employers when multiplied by thousands of workers.

“While hopefully few people are discriminated against, everybody receives a paycheck, and therefore can be in a group together,” Mr. Siegel said.

“Success begets copycats,” Maatman said.

Successful litigation in the early part of this decade has attracted attorneys to the area, Maatman said. In addition, plaintiffs attorneys realized “it didn’t take money to be able to bring these sorts of cases” the way it does to bring large-scale cases alleging discrimination or violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, where plaintiffs must invest in expert testimony and pay for it from their own pocket, he said.

“They can do without an expert” in wage-and-hour suits and “can get a class certified pretty quickly,” Maatman said. “So when a client walks into their office and says, “This is how I was paid,’ they can sue on behalf of that client and anyone else in the common payroll system,” he said.
Furthermore, unlike discrimination cases that must first be presented to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a plaintiff attorney can see a client on Monday and file suit on Tuesday, said Maatman. It is a “much, much more user-friendly system for the plaintiffs’ system,” he said.

The weak economy also has played a role in rising litigation as laid-off workers go after their previous employers, said Lawrence S. McGoldrick, of counsel at Fisher & Phillips L.L.P. in Atlanta. The complexity of the rules, which vary among the state and federal laws and are easy to inadvertently break, also are a factor, legal observers say.

“There is no turnkey solution that you can just plug in,” said Phillip Schreiber, a partner with Holland & Knight L.L.P. in Chicago.
“It’s hard to be in full compliance, even for a good employer,” McGoldrick said.

“When you consider whether or not an individual is properly classified as an exempt vs. nonexempt for overtime, it’s nothing that they can just look up and get a definitive answer for,” McMillan said. “The decision rests upon a specific case-by-case actual analysis as to what the particular employer does day in and day out, so it’s difficult, even as a lawyer, to provide guidance.”

The nature of today’s jobs also is a factor.

“You have employees who are not working in centralized locations where they can be monitored” and their hours worked tracked easily, said Michael C. Schmidt, a member of law firm Cozen O’Connor P.C. in New York.

Working with email and BlackBerrys “tend to be outside the traditional norms, which makes it harder for employers to control and record those” specific hours worked, he said.

In addition, budget-stretched state and federal governments are targeting independent contractors to make sure the contractors pay their fair share of payroll taxes. They are not just looking to do justice but “also seeking to get back revenue,” said Schmidt.

The Labor Department also has been active on the issue, observers say.

The employer’s location also makes a difference, legal experts say.
“An employer needs to consider where in the country your facilities are located,” said Siegel. “If you’re in California, if you’re in Florida or New York City, you’re going to see far more” wage-and-hour activity than in other parts of the country. In some cases, it is a reflection of local laws; and in others, of the local bar, Siegel said.

Many point to California as being particularly difficult for employers.
McMillan said the state “has just so many specific wage-and-hour rules and regulations that a lot of employers that have all the intent of wanting to comply with the law don’t often know about all the specific rules, and therefore it’s difficult for them to comply with all the technicalities.”

Insurance coverage is not widely available, observers say. According to a December study by Sterling, Massachusetts-based Betterley Risk Consultants Inc., some insurers offer only defense coverage or defense and settlement insurance, but both often are subject to sublimits.

If you’d like more information about this topic, contact Jeff DiDomenico Valiant

The complexity of federal and state laws, the relative ease of winning class action certification and workers laid off as a result of the weak economy have led to more litigation in recent years, observers say.


For example, the Department of Labor said there were 40,000 wage-and-hour complaints during fiscal 2010, up about 15% from the roughly 35,000 complaints in fiscal 2009.

Many claims fall into two major categories: misclassification of workers as exempt, and unpaid overtime, observers say.

However, employers can minimize the chances of litigation by taking steps that include periodic audits to determine whether employees are being properly classified, as well as careful recordkeeping.

When employers are sued, experts say settling the case may be the wiser course. Wage-and-hour litigation is the fastest-growing type of class action, legal experts say.

“If you asked me what was the headache that kept folks up at night five years ago when it comes to workplace-related lawsuits, I’d say employment discrimination lawsuits,” said Gerald L. Maatman Jr., a partner with law firm Seyfarth Shaw L.L.P. in Chicago.

“Today, the headache that keeps people awake at night” is wage-and-hour litigation, he said. “If you’re interested in saving money and avoiding the courthouse, I think that’s the No. 1 issue right now,” Maatman said. “Every year we think we’re at the top of the bell curve, but we haven’t reached that yet.”

“It’s one of the biggest threats to employers from an employment law standpoint,” said Brian T. McMillan, a shareholder with Littler Mendelson P.C. in San Jose, California. “Plaintiff attorneys have kind of stumbled upon what is now the litigation du jour,” which can mean “enormous liability” for employers as well as plaintiffs’ ability to recover attorney fees, he said.

Among reasons for the lawsuits’ growth is establishing a class action under the Fair Labor Standards Act is relatively easy under the federal rules of civil procedures, said Paul J. Siegel, a partner with Jackson Lewis L.L.P. in Melville, New York.

The FLSA, which was created in 1938 to protect industrial workers from exploitation, guarantees employees time-and-a-half-pay for hours worked beyond a 40-hour week, unless they are salaried and fall into one of three main exempt categories: professional, executive or administrative.

Observers say even if the time at issue is just a few minutes per worker, a class action can add up to substantial costs for employers when multiplied by thousands of workers.

“While hopefully few people are discriminated against, everybody receives a paycheck, and therefore can be in a group together,” Mr. Siegel said.

“Success begets copycats,” Maatman said.

Successful litigation in the early part of this decade has attracted attorneys to the area, Maatman said. In addition, plaintiffs attorneys realized “it didn’t take money to be able to bring these sorts of cases” the way it does to bring large-scale cases alleging discrimination or violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, where plaintiffs must invest in expert testimony and pay for it from their own pocket, he said.

“They can do without an expert” in wage-and-hour suits and “can get a class certified pretty quickly,” Maatman said. “So when a client walks into their office and says, “This is how I was paid,’ they can sue on behalf of that client and anyone else in the common payroll system,” he said.
Furthermore, unlike discrimination cases that must first be presented to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a plaintiff attorney can see a client on Monday and file suit on Tuesday, said Maatman. It is a “much, much more user-friendly system for the plaintiffs’ system,” he said.

The weak economy also has played a role in rising litigation as laid-off workers go after their previous employers, said Lawrence S. McGoldrick, of counsel at Fisher & Phillips L.L.P. in Atlanta. The complexity of the rules, which vary among the state and federal laws and are easy to inadvertently break, also are a factor, legal observers say.

“There is no turnkey solution that you can just plug in,” said Phillip Schreiber, a partner with Holland & Knight L.L.P. in Chicago.
“It’s hard to be in full compliance, even for a good employer,” McGoldrick said.

“When you consider whether or not an individual is properly classified as an exempt vs. nonexempt for overtime, it’s nothing that they can just look up and get a definitive answer for,” McMillan said. “The decision rests upon a specific case-by-case actual analysis as to what the particular employer does day in and day out, so it’s difficult, even as a lawyer, to provide guidance.”

The nature of today’s jobs also is a factor.

“You have employees who are not working in centralized locations where they can be monitored” and their hours worked tracked easily, said Michael C. Schmidt, a member of law firm Cozen O’Connor P.C. in New York.

Working with email and BlackBerrys “tend to be outside the traditional norms, which makes it harder for employers to control and record those” specific hours worked, he said.

In addition, budget-stretched state and federal governments are targeting independent contractors to make sure the contractors pay their fair share of payroll taxes. They are not just looking to do justice but “also seeking to get back revenue,” said Schmidt.

The Labor Department also has been active on the issue, observers say.

The employer’s location also makes a difference, legal experts say.
“An employer needs to consider where in the country your facilities are located,” said Siegel. “If you’re in California, if you’re in Florida or New York City, you’re going to see far more” wage-and-hour activity than in other parts of the country. In some cases, it is a reflection of local laws; and in others, of the local bar, Siegel said.

Many point to California as being particularly difficult for employers.
McMillan said the state “has just so many specific wage-and-hour rules and regulations that a lot of employers that have all the intent of wanting to comply with the law don’t often know about all the specific rules, and therefore it’s difficult for them to comply with all the technicalities.”

Insurance coverage is not widely available, observers say. According to a December study by Sterling, Massachusetts-based Betterley Risk Consultants Inc., some insurers offer only defense coverage or defense and settlement insurance, but both often are subject to sublimits.

If you’d like more information about this topic, contact Jeff DiDomenico Valiant

I’m always excited to hear that another Valiant client has signed on to Valiant Tax Service. But what I’m puzzled about is that while the vast majority of our clients use VTS, a small minority do not. That’s why I’ve taken to the “blogosphere,” to explain the service and its value to our clients who don’t currently use it.


Valiant Tax Service is pretty much what the name implies, a tax processing unit that takes care of all of your payroll taxes. We started offering this service for a number of reasons. First of all, it’s a natural fit with the payroll services we already provide and it works seamlessly with your payroll data. Secondly, we have an extraordinarily thorough understanding of tax regulations and the complexities of tax processing. Why should your payroll department spend countless hours trying to navigate the intricacies of tax laws for all 50 states and literally thousands of municipalities when we at Valiant already have that information at our fingertips?

Here are a few highlights of Valiant Tax Service’s capabilities:

• Our software systems and human knowledge make us completely up-to-date and fully compliant with new and existing tax laws, rule changes, and form updates.

• We provide accurate and timely preparation/remittance of all returns, reports, and payments for over 10,000 federal, state and local jurisdictions throughout the U.S.

• We respond rapidly, efficiently and effectively to resolve any agency payroll tax inquiries and issues.

• We have a staff with decades of accumulated payroll tax knowledge and expertise.

I asked around to find out why some of Valiant’s clients prefer to handle tax processing themselves and the one word I kept hearing was, “float.” If that’s true, it’s an outdated notion that needs to be put to rest. If you’re reading this, you know what “float” means; it’s the cash management theory of holding onto money in your account until the very last moment so as to accrue every last cent of interest.

But think about it…with interest rates stuck at a fraction of one percent, where’s the financial gain? The simple answer is, there isn’t any. Also consider this: by handling your payroll taxes yourself, any error you make can (and will!) result in penalties, fines and interest that wipe out any benefit from “float.”

I’m available any time to talk with you in detail about how Valiant Tax Service can simplify your payroll tax processing and reduce your overhead.

For more information please email Sharrie Hajduk at Valiant or call 516.390.1133.

I’m always excited to hear that another Valiant client has signed on to Valiant Tax Service. But what I’m puzzled about is that while the vast majority of our clients use VTS, a small minority do not. That’s why I’ve taken to the “blogosphere,” to explain the service and its value to our clients who don’t currently use it.

Valiant Tax Service is pretty much what the name implies, a tax processing unit that takes care of all of your payroll taxes. We started offering this service for a number of reasons. First of all, it’s a natural fit with the payroll services we already provide and it works seamlessly with your payroll data. Secondly, we have an extraordinarily thorough understanding of tax regulations and the complexities of tax processing. Why should your payroll department spend countless hours trying to navigate the intricacies of tax laws for all 50 states and literally thousands of municipalities when we at Valiant already have that information at our fingertips?

Here are a few highlights of Valiant Tax Service’s capabilities:

• Our software systems and human knowledge make us completely up-to-date and fully compliant with new and existing tax laws, rule changes, and form updates.

• We provide accurate and timely preparation/remittance of all returns, reports, and payments for over 10,000 federal, state and local jurisdictions throughout the U.S.

• We respond rapidly, efficiently and effectively to resolve any agency payroll tax inquiries and issues.

• We have a staff with decades of accumulated payroll tax knowledge and expertise.

I asked around to find out why some of Valiant’s clients prefer to handle tax processing themselves and the one word I kept hearing was, “float.” If that’s true, it’s an outdated notion that needs to be put to rest. If you’re reading this, you know what “float” means; it’s the cash management theory of holding onto money in your account until the very last moment so as to accrue every last cent of interest.

But think about it…with interest rates stuck at a fraction of one percent, where’s the financial gain? The simple answer is, there isn’t any. Also consider this: by handling your payroll taxes yourself, any error you make can (and will!) result in penalties, fines and interest that wipe out any benefit from “float.”

I’m available any time to talk with you in detail about how Valiant Tax Service can simplify your payroll tax processing and reduce your overhead.

For more information please email Sharrie Hajduk at Valiant or call 516.390.1133.

As the nation’s economy slowly recovers and income inequality emerges as a crucial issue in the presidential campaign, lawmakers are facing growing pressure to raise the minimum wage, which was last increased at the federal level to $7.25 an hour in July 2009.


State legislators in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Illinois and elsewhere are pushing to raise the minimum wage above the federal level in their own states, arguing that $7.25 an hour is too meager for anyone to live on.

Massachusetts lawmakers are pushing for a big jump, with the Legislature’s joint committee on labor approving a measure last month that would raise the minimum to $10 an hour, which would leapfrog Washington State, whose $9.04 minimum is the nation’s highest.
Voters in Missouri may be asked to vote on a minimum wage referendum in November.

These moves are giving momentum to an effort to persuade Congress to embrace a higher national minimum wage. Some liberal and labor groups, capitalizing on the energy and message of the Occupy Wall Street movement, are urging Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa and chairman of the Senate Labor Committee, to head a Congressional effort to raise the federal minimum to $9.80 an hour by 2014.
Congress last passed a bill to increase minimum wages in 2006, phasing in higher rates over several years. Although some states raise the minimum wage automatically every year as the cost of living increases, federal law does not provides for an automatic increase.
Many Democrats and their labor allies say the time is right to push for another increase, and not just because it is hard to live on the $15,080 a year earned by a person working full time at minimum wage. They say a public debate now over the merits of increasing wages is bound to put many Republicans on the defensive during an election year and would encourage low-income Americans — an important part of the Democratic base — to go to the polls this November.

“It’s always good to surface an issue that captures voters’ enthusiasm and distinguishes the bad guys and the good guys,” said Jen Kern, minimum wage campaign coordinator at the National Employment Law Project, an advocacy group for low-wage workers.

The business community is not at all happy about these developments and has warned President Obama, Democratic lawmakers and labor groups that with weak job growth, the time is definitely not right to raise the minimum wage.

“It’s a classic election-year ploy to make the Democrats look like they’re protecting low-income workers,” said Randal K. Johnson, senior vice president for labor issues at the United States Chamber of Commerce. “I think it’s well understood that raising the minimum wage hurts workers on the lower end of the pay scale in that it does kill jobs.”

But backers of a higher minimum wage disagree on the economics, pointing to studies that found that an increase in minimum wages did not result in a reduction in jobs. Ms. Kern argued that raising the minimum wage would even stimulate the economy. “You ask business why they’re not hiring. They say it’s because no one is buying anything,” she said. “Well, a higher minimum wage would give people more money to spend.”

In 2010, 1.8 million hourly workers earned exactly the prevailing federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, according to federal data. About 2.5 million had wages below the minimum, in part because of exemptions under the law for certain categories of workers like many students.

Analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning research organization, suggests that raising the federal minimum wage to $9.80 would lift pay for more than 28 million Americans, increase the gross domestic product by more than $25 billion and create the equivalent of more than 100,000 full-time jobs.

Advocates for a higher wage note that the issue receives strong public support. In a Quinnipiac University poll released last week, 78 percent of New Yorkers polled supported an increase, while 20 percent opposed it. Even Republicans favored an increase, 53 percent to 43 percent.

Ms. Kern’s group along with other labor organizations like Interfaith Worker Justice, the Service Employees International Union and Restaurant Opportunities Centers United are mobilizing to press Congress to take action.

Supporters of a higher minimum are urging Mr. Harkin to break out the minimum wage provisions from a broader bill that would bolster workers’ positions by strengthening numerous labor and safety laws.

Mr. Harkin said, “Establishing a reasonable minimum wage is the simplest thing we can do to help hard-working families make ends meet, join the middle class, and help move the economy forward.” However, he is waiting to attract more support for a wage increase before proposing separate legislation.

Advocates for a higher minimum wage say they are disappointed that President Obama, after supporting an increase in the minimum to $9.50 during the 2008 campaign, has done little to advance the idea since he was elected.

“The Occupy movement put inequality on the radar,” said Dan Cantor, the executive director of the New York State Working Families Party. “If we’re serious as a society about poverty and work and decency, the minimum wage needs to eventually become a living wage.”
Ms. Kern said Mr. Obama would be smart to champion the idea to mobilize his base, although a top A.F.L.-C.I.O. official said some Democrats in the White House and on Capitol Hill felt uneasy about pushing for a higher minimum wage when the job market was so wobbly.

Mitt Romney, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, has called for letting the minimum wage rise with inflation, but has said he sees no need to increase the minimum wage right now.

Isabel Tartaglia, the owner and operator of five American Steakhouse restaurants in Connecticut, said that raising the minimum wage did a disservice to everyone. “If you raise the minimum wage, what happens is companies, especially small businesses, will not hire any extra people,” she said. Moreover, “now that you’re raising the costs, restaurants will have to raise the costs of their products.”
In New York, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Democrat, is pushing a bill to raise the state’s minimum wage, currently $7.25, to $8.50 an hour. Michael R. Bloomberg, the independent mayor of New York City, has endorsed that legislation, although the Republican-led Senate opposes it. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat, has taken no formal position.

In New Jersey, the Senate and Assembly leaders, both Democrats, support raising the state minimum to $8.50 an hour from $7.25, and Gov. Chris Christie has urged them to sit down with him to discuss the issue.

In Connecticut, the House labor committee voted to approve a bill that would raise that state’s minimum, currently $8.25, in two 50-cent increments to $9.25 an hour by 2014. The administration of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has expressed concerns about the bill but has not said he will oppose it.

Jack Mozloom, a spokesman for the National Federation of Independent Business, an advocacy group for small businesses, said: “On this issue, our members tell us overwhelmingly everywhere they hate it.”

“It’s interesting that the Democratic governors of New York and Connecticut are ambivalent, even cool to the idea,” Mr. Mozloom said. “They seem reluctant to create an additional burden for small businesses in their state.”

If you’d like more information about this topic, contact Jeff DiDomenico at Valiant.