Coping With New Minimum Wage Laws

Q: How will the new minimum wage laws affect my business?

A: While every business will be affected by the increase in the federal minimum wage, the impact will vary depending on which state your business operates in. In New York, for example, the state-mandated minimum wage is already $7.15 an hour, so if you do business in New York, you won't feel much pain when the federally mandated minimum wage goes up to $6.55 an hour next summer and $7.25 in the summer of 2009.

In states like New Mexico, where the minimum wage was $5.15 an hour before the new federal wage rate of $5.85 kicked in, business owners will have to find creative ways to offset their higher labor costs.

Because you may not be able to raise your prices high enough to cover these increased costs, you may want to consider investing in capital improvements that'll reduce your staffing needs or develop new, less labor-intensive product lines. Either way, these changes will be less disruptive if they're planned in advance and implemented gradually, says Stephen Furnari, a corporate lawyer at Furnari Levine LLP in New York City.

If you do decide to reduce your headcount, "Make sure you do so in compliance with state and federal regulations and check with your corporate counsel or employment lawyer well in advance of making any major changes," says Furnari. On the plus side, Congress has allocated certain tax breaks to small businesses along with this wage increase, so check with your accountant to see if they apply to you.