RALEIGH—The minumum wage in North Carolina increased from $6.15 an hour to $6.55 an hour on July 24.  This is the second phase of a three-step increase enacted by Congress. 

The N.C. Department of Labor has updated the Wage and Hour Notice to Employees to reflect the minimum wage change.  Because of the change, private poster companies are sending threatening mail in an attempt to intimidate employers into buying expensive posters or risk incurring substantial penalties. 

“We would never fine an employer unless the employer just blatantly refused to put the poster up,” Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry said.  “I personally don’t know of any employer who has refused to take a free poster from one of our inspectors.”

Call NCDOL at 1-800-625-2267 for a free poster or visit www.nclabor.com/posters/poster.htm. 

Labor law posters are required under North Carolina law.  The posters carry information on the state’s Wage and Hour Act and what are commonly referred to as “OSHA” regulations, or the Occupational Safety and Health Act.  The labor department for years has provided the posters to employers free of charge, and labor inspectors carry them in their vehicles.

The labor department receives yearly requests for up to 75,000 new posters.  Labor department officials anticipate requests and place printing orders to meet demand.

The passage of the new state minimum wage of $6.15 starting Jan. 1 complicated the usual printing schedule because labor officials were aware the U.S. Congress was talking of enacting federal legislation that would supersede the minimum wage in North Carolina.  Labor officials delayed the usual printing order until shortly before the start of 2007.

As expected the U.S. House of Representatives approved Jan. 10 a new federal minimum wage.  However, the bill approved by the House would not affect the state minimum wage since it sets a minimum wage of $5.85 an hour effective 60 days after enactment by the U.S. Congress.

The federal minimum wage would not supersede the state rate of $6.15 until a year later, when the minimum wage would go up to $6.55 and rise yet again to $7.25 a year after that.  The U.S. Senate has yet to act on minimum wage legislation.

“I did not want to waste taxpayer dollars on printing 50,000 posters that would be out of date immediately,” Berry said.

Business owners are often approached by private poster companies trying to sell them expensive posters.

The poster companies send employers official-looking mail that threatens $7,000 fines unless employers comply with changes in the labor laws by purchasing posters for which the poster companies sometimes charge more than $100.

“It is unfortunate when I hear business owners tell me they were duped into spending $100 for a poster out of fear they would be hit with a huge fine,” Berry said.  “How you can sleep at night if that’s how you make a living is beyond me.”

Berry said many of the poster requests coming in from employers were prompted by threatening letters they received from private poster companies.  Berry said labor officials have heard that poster companies aware of the new minimum wage have been contacting employers across the state with letters threatening heavy fines.

The letters have been found to be within state law because of loopholes covered in the fine print included in these letters.

Poster companies can be indiscriminate about whom they solicit with their letters.  Two years ago, a letter threatening a $7,000 fine for failure to have an up-to-date poster was sent to the labor department.  It was addressed to Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry.

“When you get these solicitations, throw them in the trash,” Berry said.  “That’s what I did.”