Minimum Wage in Louisiana – weekly, monthly, annually

As employees are struggling to keep up with so many rising living costs, Louisiana is still one of just five states that have no state minimum hourly wage.

This means that employees in Louisiana must, in practically all cases, be paid at least the federal minimum wage rate of $7.25 per hour. This rate hasn’t gone up since 2009.

Many Louisianans want to lift the state’s minimum hourly wage to $15 an hour and eliminate subminimum wages, such as the tipped minimum hourly wage.

Studies revealed that more than 803.000 employees in the state (that’s almost 40% of all Louisiana workers) are making less than $15 per hour. The fact of the matter is that most Black workers (58%) and Hispanic workers (50%) earn less than $15 per hour.

Recent studies also found that almost 50% of Louisiana women and nearly 65% of women of color make under $15 per hour, while the expenses, on average, for an American household are over $5k a month or $60k per year!

In Louisiana, quite a few bills have been proposed to boost working families’ perspectives by raising the minimum wage standards in the state but so far, nothing was confirmed.

Not all workers in Louisiana are entitled to the state’s minimum wage. Under the regulations of the FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act), certain groups, including tipped workers, farm and seasonal workers, newspaper deliverers, and informal workers such as babysitters, may receive less than the state’s minimum standard of $7.25 an hour.

Louisiana Paycheck Calculator

This Louisiana Paycheck Calculator helps you to figure out how your hourly wage relates to earnings per week, monthly, or year.

How to use this Louisiana paycheck calculator

1. First step: enter your hourly wage.
2. Second step: enter how many hours you work per week.
3. The paycheck calculator will convert your hourly wage to weekly, monthly, or annual earnings.

How does the Louisiana paycheck calculator work?

For Louisiana employees with full-time employment, understanding their paychecks will usually be a relatively easy process. Periodically (once per one or two weeks, or once a month), they get their paychecks, and near the end of the year, they will get tax forms.

So employees with periodical paychecks generally don’t have much trouble learning what their earnings are. For employees, however, who get paid by the hour, it could become more complicated. For employees that get paid by the hour, it might be a bit more complicated to figure out how their hourly wage translates to annual, monthly, or weekly wages.

That’s where our Louisiana paycheck calculator comes in handy. It is a great tool that will instantly convert your hourly wage into earnings per year, month, or week.

These results are generated by multiplying your base hourly salary by the number of hours, weeks, or months you work yearly, assuming that you’re working 40 hours per week.

Minimum Wage in Louisiana

So the minimum hourly pay that employees will receive from their employers in Louisiana is $7.25, which equals the federal minimum wage standard. This will be $58 a day, $290 a week (if you work 40 hours), $1257 a month, or $15,080 a year.

As stated above, not all Louisiana employees receive the state’s minimum wage. Employees receiving gratuity payments, certain full-time students, and some other groups are exempt from earning Louisiana’s minimum wage.

Minimum wage exemptions in Louisiana

The following listing is not a complete overview of minimum wage exempt groups, but it includes the main categories:

• Hospitality workers/restaurant servers getting gratuity payments may be paid less, but if the worker doesn’t reach $7.25 for every worked hour, the employer is required to compensate the employee.
• College and high school students who work 20 hours max per week may be paid 85% of Louisiana’s minimum hourly wage, so $6.16 per hour, if they are engaged in a work-learn program at an institution of post-secondary education.
• New employees under the age of 20 years may receive a ‘”training wage” of just $4.25 per hour, but only during the first 90 days of their employment.
• Farmworkers, seasonal workers, newspaper delivery workers, and domestic workers like babysitters may also be exempt from Louisiana’s minimum wage laws.

Louisiana overtime wage

Louisiana overtime pay regulations are in line with the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Employees who put in more than 40 work hours a week receive 1.5 times (150%) the standard compensation for those overtime hours. Louisiana law doesn’t put a limit on weekly overtime hours.

Every Louisiana employer must display state-designated minimum wage posters in highly visible locations. This way, the employees can get fully informed on Louisiana’s minimum hourly pay laws and their rights under Louisiana and federal law.

What is considered work time?

The FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) not only establishes the federal minimum wage and overtime compensation regulations but also describes what is considered working time.

The central question here is whether the worker is ‘suffered or permitted to work.’ According to the U.S. Department Of Labor, the phrase ‘suffer or permitted to work’ is meaning that if an employer allows but doesn’t prevent a worker from carrying out tasks, the hours spent are usually regarded as work hours.

Even if the employer didn’t ask the employee to perform a task end the worker voluntarily carries out an activity, the employer has allowed the task, and the employee must be paid for this work as the employer benefits from the work being done. The phrase ‘Suffer or permitted to work’ indicates that in case the employer is allowing but not preventing a worker from performing a task, the hours spent are considered work time.

Small breaks and the time required for profession-related education and training are considered to be work hours as well. When a position comes with traveling to clients or traveling from client to client, the travel time is regarded as work time. Time spent on commuting from home to work and vice versa is not considered to be work time.

Please note that this post doesn’t contain legal advice. If you have any questions about Louisiana’s minimum wage policies or minimum wage compliance, consult a tax professional or a tax attorney.