Beginning Sept. 1, Guam's minimum wage will increase by 50 cents. The new hourly wage will go from $8.75 an hour to $9.25 an hour, the Guam Department of Labor said today, announcing the effective date of Public Law 36-1.
The minimum wage was originally scheduled to increase in March based on Public Law 35-38, which mandated a two-tiered pay hike.
The first phase was implemented in March last year. The minimum wage went from $8.25 to $8.75, despite the Guam Chamber of Commerce's appeal for a moratorium.
P.L. 36-1, authored by Sen. James Moylan, postponed the implementation of the second phase for six months to buffer the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which triggered a lockdown and operational restrictions on businesses last year.
In an earlier statement, Moylan said the new law would provide businesses the opportunity and some additional time to regroup their operational expenditures, pay down obligations, acclimate to a new normal, and for many, recoup their losses from 2020.
“The Department of Labor is here to not only answer your wage and hour questions but also on fair employment practices to stay in compliance, occupational safety through our on-site OSHA consultation services as well as questions on worker’s compensation,” Labor Director David Dell’Isola said.
Employers are advised to go to the Wage and Hour portion of the department's website.
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Labor officials said the notice also contains other fair labor information such as overtime rules and regulations, deductions and how tips and gratuities must be paid out.
Officials from the Wage and Hour Division may be doing compliance checks and random audits in the near future to ensure that employees are being paid in accordance with the law, the department said.
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