Minimum wage change, will SFNJ comply?

On October 1st, minimum wage in NJ will change from $6.15 to $7.15. From what I understand, most ride operators at SFNJ are making $6.15. Do you guys think that they'll all start making $7.15 once October 1st rolls around? Or, do you think Six Flags will find some way around the wage change? With all of the cuts they're making, I wonder what'll happen if they suddenly are paying $1.00 more per hour per employee for a month. Thoughts?

Im no lawyer, but I know Kennywood gets away with not paying overtime to employees who work more than 40 hours a week because they are only employed seasonally. Dont know about minimum wage, but if I had to guess I'd say they will have to comply with something like minimum wage. Just a guess, who knows. Hopefully someone here is knowledgeable on the subject.

At least in PA, Seasonal Positions are not required to be paid minimum wage. Which is also how parks can not pay you for overtime other then your normal hourly rate. I would believe that laws would be structured similarly throughout the nation.

I personally think that not paying minimum wage is grade-A bull****. Thats REALLY lowballing employees. Im surprised Kennywood didnt try it tho, I really am...

*** Edited 8/27/2006 5:00:47 AM UTC by FballReimer11***

I personally think that taking a job that doesn't pay minimum wage is one's own fault.

That is true. Its still bogus not to offer friggen minimum wage though. I'm sure they'll pay minimum nonetheless. Cause who the hell is gonna work there for the season. Theres plenty of places college kids can work in the summer that will pay minmum and even more. Good point tho Gonch.

Aren't there LAWS against something like that? I thought the ONLY people who were exempt (in similar positions as well) were waiters & waitresses, since they make the bulk of their money through tips.

Isn't this something you could take to courts, if they fail to pay you at least minimum wage when tips are not involved? Part-time I know has to comply... I'd assume seasonal would be the same way.

I wonder why seasonal workers work sometimes 7-days a week and/or 10+ hour shifts at the park. I thought they were doing it for the O.T. pay... apparently I was wrong.

Generally, seasonal businesses are exempt from overtime; they may or may not be exempt from minimum wage laws as well, but from a quick google search, I don't believe they are in most states.

However, even if seasonal businesses are exempt, they probably have to come pretty close, just due to pressures on the labor market.

(I'm guessing that the largest group of "seasonal" employees are the migrant farm workers.)

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SFGAdv lover said:
On October 1st, minimum wage in NJ will change from $6.15 to $7.15. From what I understand, most ride operators at SFNJ are making $6.15. Do you guys think that they'll all start making $7.15 once October 1st rolls around? Or, do you think Six Flags will find some way around the wage change? Thoughts?

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Remember, Six Flags NJ is a Union Shop, and all ops are Union members (like it or not they have to pay dues) I would suspect that SFNJ would be one of the the first to comply as it would be quite detrimental to have a work stoppage while they're in season.

The reduced hours this year may stand next year simply to make sure that overtime is not an issue.

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DawgByte II said:
I thought they were doing it for the O.T. pay... apparently I was wrong.

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In a way, though, they are, just without the increased pay rate.

One of the great benefits of working at an amusement park is that even though the pay is low, they'll give you all the hours you want. This is NOT true at many retail or food service jobs, where many times full-time starts at 30 hours a week, so that's pretty much the ceiling. Often less than 20 or 15 hours a week will be the norm. The other problem is that once school starts again, you'll need to maintain your job at most of the places through school to garauntee you still have a job come next summer. At an amusement park, you can quit for school, and just as easily have your place back once the park is open again.

So high school student "Billy" can either get a job at Six Flags this summer or at a local CVS down the street.

50 hours a week X $7.15 = $357.50 before taxes and such.

20 hours a week X $8.50 = $170

And just as a note, that 50 hours a week is VERY conservative, and the $8.50 at CVS is VERY generous. In the real world the spread between those $357.50 and $170 figures would probably be much larger.

In summary, Billy and you're looking to make as much money as you can before school starts up again, which choice would you make?

These kids aren't dumb...they know their pay rate is crap but they know there are other benefits as well... *** Edited 8/27/2006 1:07:58 PM UTC by matt.***

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Lord Gonchar said:
I personally think that taking a job that doesn't pay minimum wage is one's own fault.

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Easy to say for well educated, lots of opportunity, lots of option folks.

Not saying that the SF seasonals are all "underprivileged" or need to be paying bills, but I know lots of people who have no choice but to work multiple minimum wage or below jobs, just to pay bills.

<= hippying out

Right, so how exactly is being well educated not a choice?

Sorry, but if somebody really has "no choice" but to work for minimum wage and are fine with that, that's cool, but it's not like there aren't things they can do about it if they want. God forbid they take personal responsibility for their own decisions and actions.

At the end of the day you're own career path is determined by yourself, like it or not. *** Edited 8/27/2006 2:53:59 PM UTC by matt.***

I'm on the bandwagon with Andy here guys....not that that ain't predictable.

Seriously, MANY MANY people come from a world of very limited options. Working multiple jobs to raise a child (or even two or three) - often as a single parent isn't difficult ENOUGH already? Seriously, once I'm king (a title we never used here in the States until 6-7 years ago, LOL)..minimum wage for all full-time employees will be $10.

And then, ALL these people working "menial jobs" will have a chance to appreciate at least a LITTLE of the term that is bandied about SO loosely - "land of opportunity".

Yes, I am a hippie, no, I'm not joining a 12-step program for it. :)

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DawgByte II said:

I wonder why seasonal workers work sometimes 7-days a week and/or 10+ hour shifts at the park. I thought they were doing it for the O.T. pay... apparently I was wrong.

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Yeah. I worked at Kennywood. Sometimes employees had to work up to 70 hours per week, with no overtime pay. Managers at Kennywood had to work 4 open-close shifts per week, and that was mandatory. I think its ridiculous to work people that much without paying overtime. Kennywood didnt treat its employees very well, though. At least when I worked there...but thats a different story for a different day...

Well, I have to admit, I learned one here. I was already to chime in with 'are you people crazy'.

I found this link http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/whdfs18.htm

It covers the exemptions in regards to the Federal Law involving 'recreation and amusement' facilities. Depending on state law, it will be the decision of each park covered by the exemption.

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rollergator said:
Working multiple jobs to raise a child (or even two or three) - often as a single parent isn't difficult ENOUGH already?

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Having children is also a choice.

And I consider myself pretty liberal/hippified myself but I'm also a realist. From an economic standpoint, raising the minimum wage to $10/hr would do more to hurt the people at the bottom of the ladder than anybody else. The cost of goods and services would spike dramatically, essentially negating any positive effect the wage hike would create.

In other words, arbitrarily raising the minimum wage will pretty much arbitrarily raise the cost of everything else. The economy would simply adjust and the only change would be higher costs for everything.

It's just the way our economy works: some people have to get paid less than others. *** Edited 8/27/2006 5:27:33 PM UTC by matt.***

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matt. said:

Having children is also a choice.

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I like that point. Dont be irresponsible and have children if youre not married and/or cant afford it.

*** Edited 8/27/2006 5:31:40 PM UTC by FballReimer11***

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ApolloAndy said:
Easy to say for well educated, lots of opportunity, lots of option folks.

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Gator said:
once I'm king...minimum wage for all full-time employees will be $10.

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Just for the record, I didn't go to college and never held a 'real job' in my life that paid as much as $10 an hour. :)

One of the best misconceptions about Gonch is that his 'uppidy jerk' attitude comes from his place in the world. I'm a thinker, not a feeler. My conservative fiscal attitude wasn't born from experience. I grew up familiar with food stamps, medical cards and government cheese. My wife and I thought we were rich the first time our combined income reached $30,000 in a year.

With that said, let me clarify my earlier statement of, "I personally think that taking a job that doesn't pay minimum wage is one's own fault."

I don't care how bad your situation is, you can get a job paying the federally mandated minimum salary. Even if it's flipping burgers, cleaning toilets or some other generally 'crappy' job. If you're in a situation where you have to consider a job that doesn't pay minimum wage, then you're also in a position to take a job that does. Don't be pissed at the system for your choices (including putting yourself in a situation to be a young, uneducated single parent).

Now let me confuse my position on the issue even more by saying that I think minimum wage should offer a 'minimum life' at least. By that I mean that minimum wage should be enough to cover all the necessities in life and right now it isn't in pretty much all cases. Still, I tend not to live in a world of happy fuzzy bunnies and hugs and candy canes and know that it's nobody's responsibilty to look out for you but your own.

You know how much chaos would ensue if minimum wage was bumped up to $10.00 an hour?

Basically once minimum wage goes up, then everything else you've come to know & love will go up 10 fold as well... pizza will be regularly $20.00 for a large (pick-up), admission to a park will be $60.00 for the smaller parks single-day, wal-mart's already low prices won't be so low.

Basically, society as we know it would crumble & fall because minimum wage's higher payout would force businesses to pass the buck which just causes a dominoe effect anywhere & everywhere.

What is SFNJ?