ENROLLED

COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE

FOR

Senate Bill No. 470

(Senator Hunter, original sponsor)

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[Passed April 12, 1997; in effect ninety days from passage.]

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AN ACT to amend and reenact section two, article five-c, chapter twenty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to increasing the state minimum wage to the federal standard.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section two, article five-c, chapter twenty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5C. MINIMUM WAGE AND MAXIMUM HOURS STANDARDS FOR EMPLOYEES.

§21-5C-2. Minimum wages.
(a) Minimum wage:
(1) After the thirtieth day of September, one thousand nine hundred ninety-seven, every employer shall pay to each of his or her employees wages at a rate not less than four dollars and seventy-five cents per hour.
(2) After the thirty-first day of August, one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight, every employer shall pay to each of his or her employees wages at a rate not less than five dollars and fifteen cents per hour.
(b) Training wage:
(1) Notwithstanding the provisions set forth in subsection (a) of this section to the contrary, an employer may pay an employee first hired after the thirtieth day of September, one thousand nine hundred ninety-seven, a subminimum training wage not less than four dollars and twenty-five cents per hour.
(2) An employer may not pay the subminimum training wage set forth in subdivision (1) of this subsection to any individual:
(i) Who has attained or attains while an employee of the employer, the age of twenty years; or
(ii) For a cumulative period of not more than ninety days per employee: Provided, That if any business has not been in operation for more than ninety days at the time the employer hired the employee, the employer may pay the employee the subminimum training wage set forth in subdivision (1) of this subsection for an additional period not to exceed ninety days.