The coastland times with which is combined the pilot and herald of Belhaven and Swan Quarter. [volume] (Manteo, N.C.) 1959-1973, 1959-12-18
NC. MINIMUM WAGE
LAW GOES INTO.
EFFECT JANUARY +.
Hourly Wage Floor Of ESQ To
Boost Earnings Of $1,000
Tar Heels

tot ISOtS
| RALEIGH.-On January 1, 1861
a new State law guaranteeing Gov
cred employees minimum wage Of
at least rs cents an hour goes intc
effect.
Passage of the North Caroline
Minimum Wage Law by the Gen.
eral Assembly on May z, 1859 made
North Carolina the 33rd State in
the nation to enact minimum-wage
Legislation.
The Department of Labor esti-
mates that the required 75-cents
minimum wage will increase the
total annual earnings of this group
by at least $16,5OO,OOO, or about
$500 per year on the average fol
each worker affected by the law,
Employers must pay this, and
thereby increase consumer costs to
all.
Affected Workers
The Department estimates that
the minimum wage will increase
the earnings of some 1000 EN-
ployees in variety stores, $500 in
department stores and other gen.
eral merchandise businesses, g.
800 in grocery stores, LOO in
clothing stores, $500 in restaur-
ants and other eating and drink
ing establishments, and 10000 in
all other types of retail trade bust
nesses. Total number of workers
to be affected in retail trade:
about $4,000.
In the service-indust1y group,
some 17,40O workers will receive
wage increases under the law.
These include approximately g.
800 laundry and dry cleaning work
ers in hotels and motels, and s.
500 in repair shops, amusement
places, and all other types of serv-
ice-industry operations.
An additional 5000 workers in
miscellaneous other non-manufact-
uring businesses also are slated
for wage increases under the sta
tute.
Small employers who employ five
OF less workers are specifically eX-
cluded from coverage by the Mini
mum Wage Law. An estimated H.
900 retail trade and service-in-
dustry workers earning less than
Is cents an hour in small businesses
are excluded from the laws pro-
lection by this section of the stat
ute.
1t is not necessary that all of an
employers employees work in one
establishment for coverage to exist.
Coverage under the law is on an
employer basis, not an establish
ment basis. An employer may en-
ploy workers in several different
establishments, or even in several
different communities or sections
of the State and still be covered by
the law.
Government Workers Excluded
The Attorney General has ruled
that employees of State, county
and municipal governments are not
covered by the Minimum Wage
Law because these governmental
units do not meet the laws def
milton of an employer.
Exemptions
The most important exemption in
the law is that which excludes
from coverage all employers of
five or less workers. However, the
statute lists many additional class
es of workers who are specifically
exempt from the 75-cent minimum
These are:
~ Any person employed as a
farm laborer or farm employee.
(2) Any person employed in do
nestle service or in or about q
private home or in OF about pub
Lie or private nursing home for the
aged and/ or infirm, or in or about
all hospitals of every kind ano
character both public and private
or in an eleemosynary institution
primarily supported by public
funds.
(3) Any person engaged in the
activities of an educational. chart
table, religious or nonprofit org
anization where the relationship Of
employer-employee does not, il
fact, exist, or where the services
rendered to such organizations ar
on a voluntary basis.
az Newsboys, shoe shine boys
caddies on golf courses, baby sit
tiers, ushers, doornnen, concession
attendants and cashiers in theatres
pin boys in bowling alleys.
(5) Travelling statesmen or out
side statesmen working on a com
mission basis.
; (6) Any person employed on
- l. L ~.