Articles Discussing Missouri Wage & Hour Claims.

As St. Louis native Yogi Berra famously remarked, “[i]t is not over until it’s over.” Yogi’s aphorism is certainly true with respect to the St. Louis Minimum Wage Ordinance.

In a surprise development, on February 28, 2017, the Missouri Supreme Court upheld a minimum wage hike by the City of St. Louis. Cooperative Home Care, Inc., et al. v. City of St. Louis, Missouri. On August 28, 2015, St. Louis enacted a local ordinance providing for a four-tiered increase in the minimum wage for employees working within the boundaries of St. Louis. Under the ordinance, the hourly minimum wage rate was to increase to $8.25 on October 15, 2015; to $9 on January 1, 2016; to $10 on January 1, 2017; and to $11 on January 1, 2018.

A unanimous Missouri Supreme Court has upheld St. Louis City’s local minimum wage ordinance, reversing a trial court judgment that had enjoined and invalidated the ordinance in 2015. Cooperative Home Care, Inc. v. City of St. Louis, Missouri, No. SC95401 (Mo. Feb. 28, 2017).

he Missouri Department of Labor & Industrial Relations has announced that, effective January 1, 2014, the state minimum wage will increase from $7.35 to $7.50 per hour for non-exempt employees.