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Client Alert
Potential increase in wages to agricultural, tipped and salaried employees in Puerto Rico
By: Angel Berberena, Esq.
Edgardo Rodríguez-LaFontaine, Esq.
October 29, 2024
The Puerto Rico Minimum Wage Review Commission ("Commission") is considering modifying the minimum compensation rates for agricultural and tipped employees, currently at $5.08 and $2.13 per hour respectively. The Commission is also entertaining the potential increase to the compensation of exempt employees. These changes follow the recent increase in the minimum wage for non-exempt employees to $10.50 per hour.
According to Dr. Indira Luciano Montalvo, Vice President of the Commission, these revisions were delayed due to the legal challenges to the newly adopted minimum wage for non-exempt employees and the “electoral process” related to the upcoming elections. Notwithstanding, the Commission expects to have preliminary numbers early next year and have public hearings before and after issuing a mandatory decree adopting an adjustment for agricultural and tipped employees.
Regarding exempt employees, and despite several revisions to salary levels in the U.S by the U.S. Department of Labor, Puerto Rico has preserved the salary level set in 2004 ($455 per week), which is roughly equivalent to $11.37 per hour. Given the elapsed time since the last revision and the proximity of the current minimum wage to the “exempt salary level”, the Commission is also analyzing potential adjustments to the compensation of executives, administrators and professionals to qualify for "exempt" status.
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