On November 6, 2018, Arkansas voters approved three annual increases to the state’s minimum wage. The first installment of the minimum wage increase goes into effect January 1, 2019, increasing the current minimum wage of $8.50 to $9.25.
The university will put these new rates in place effective January 1 and current employees already on payroll that are currently under the new hourly rate will be systematically increased. Therefore, no action is needed by departments for affected classified benefits-eligible employees; budget will be increased by the Budget Office and these employees will see the increase on their January 15 paycheck.
Affected hourly employees will not see the increase on their January 15 paycheck, but rather on their January 31 paycheck. This is because the January 15 paycheck is for time worked in December. Please note that budget will not be increased for hourly positions and departments will need to make internal adjustments, as necessary.
Finally, departments will need to enter the new minimum wage when submitting EPAFs for new employees with a start date after January 1 and should note these changes for future pay documents and budget planning.
Additional increases will go into effect on January 1 in the following two years. In 2020 the minimum wage will increase to $10.00 per hour and in 2021 it will increase to $11.00 per hour.
