DENVER – The minimum wage is now $ 14.77 an hour in the city and county of Denver.
This went into effect on Friday, January 1st.
The increase is expected to result in a salary increase for thousands of workers in Denver, and many are frontline employees who were unable to work from home during the pandemic.
Denver auditor Timothy M. O’Brien, CPA, said this is a challenging time for companies.
“I want to work with them to find ways to keep their employees paid according to the law,” he said. “My goal is not to penalize employers who make honest mistakes, but instead to raise awareness and keep paid city workers during this time of economic hardship. “
Denver Labor executive director Jeffrey Garcia said this is not an easy change for companies, but every dollar is important to employees and their families.
The minimum wage increase was adopted by the Denver City Council in November 2019. It increased the minimum wage from $ 12.85 to $ 14.77 on January 1, 2021, and then will increase again to $ 15 on July 1 2021 and to $ 15.87 in 2022. After that, it will be adjusted based on inflation.
Denver Auditor
The municipal minimum wage went into effect in early 2020. In early December 2020, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock and Denver City Councilor Robin Kniech announced that they did not plan to ask the Denver City Council to consider the change. of the scheduled increase to January 1, 2021. It was a decision that Sonia Riggs, CEO of the Colorado Restaurant Association, said was extremely disappointing, as restaurants continue to struggle to survive.
If employers or workers are unsure whether the municipal minimum wage applies to them, they can verify their work address using the Denver auditor online map.
On January 1, 2021, the minimum wage also rose statewide in Colorado to $ 12.32, or $ 9.30 for tipped employees.