RELATING TO WAGES; INCREASING THE MINIMUM WAGE RATE; AMENDING A SECTION OF THE MINIMUM WAGE ACT.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

Section 1. Section 50-4-22 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1955, Chapter 200, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:

"50-4-22. MINIMUM WAGES.--

A. Every employer, except as provided in Section

50-4-21 NMSA 1978, shall pay the minimum wage rate of five dollars fifteen cents ($5.15) an hour, excepting that an employer furnishing food, utilities, supplies or housing to an employee who is engaged in agriculture may deduct the reasonable value of such furnished items from any wages due to the employee.

B. All employees covered by Subsection A of this section who customarily and regularly receive more than thirty dollars ($30.00) a month in tips shall be paid a minimum hourly wage of two dollars fifty-seven and one-half cents ($2.575). The employer may consider tips as part of wages, but such a wage credit shall not exceed fifty percent of the minimum wage. All tips received by such employees shall be retained by the employee, except that nothing in this section shall prohibit the pooling of tips among employees.

C. No employee covered by the provisions of Subsection A of this section shall be required to work more than forty hours in any week of seven days, unless he is paid one and one-half times his regular hourly rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of forty hours."

Section 2. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2000.