Hawai‘i Minimum Wage to Increase to $10.10 in 2018

Photo by Wendy Osher.

The minimum wage in Hawaiʻi will increase to $10.10 per hour beginning on Jan. 1, 2018.  The increase is part of a step increase approved under Act 82, Session Laws of Hawaiʻi (2014).

The Hawaiʻi State Department of Labor & Industrial Relations notes that this is the fourth and final rise in the minimum wage since 2015 which included the following step increases:

• $7.25 to $7.75 on Jan. 1, 2015;
• to $8.50 on Jan. 1, 2016; and
• to $9.25 on Jan. 1, 2017.

Previously, the minimum wage had stayed the same for eight years when it remained at $7.25 from Jan. 1, 2007 through Jan. 1, 2015.

“The Legislature also created a new administrative process for wage law along with a new, minimum $500 penalty to act as a deterrent, and both employers and workers should be aware of the requirements under the law,” said DLIR acting Director Leonard Hoshijo.

The Payment of Wages and Other Compensation Law, Chapter 388, Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes, details the requirements of paying wages. Workers should be aware of the following requirements for employers:

• The rate of pay should be given at the time of hiring, along with the time and place of payment,
• Any changes to payment agreements require advance notice either in writing or in a posting at the worksite,
• Paychecks are due at least twice a month,
• Paychecks should be issued within seven days after the end of the pay period, and
• Full wages are due at the time of termination.

For more information about payment of wages in Hawaiʻi go to the Wage Standards Division website.