DOVER – House Democrats voted Thursday to end a practice where workers could be paid less due to their age or how recently they were hired.
Sponsored by Rep. Kim Williams, House Bill 88 would repeal the youth and training wage, which allows employers to pay workers under 18 and anyone in their first 90 days of employment 50 cents less than the minimum wage.
“The youth and training wage discriminates against people because of their age or when they were hired. It creates a second class of workers, with some potentially earning less simply because they’re a minor, or because they’re new to the job, regardless of prior experience,” said Rep. Williams, D-Newport. “That’s less money for gas, bus fare, groceries or bills. This was a bad policy when it was enacted, and we’ve taken an important step toward unraveling it.”
Delaware’s youth and training wage was established in 2018 as part of a compromise to address an impasse regarding the capital budget and grant-in-aid bills, both of which require super-majority votes to pass. The youth and training wage was offered as a compromise to secure the needed votes to approve the two critical spending bills.
“Delaware’s minimum wage should be just that – the absolute minimum employers are legally allowed to pay a worker for their labor here in the First State,” said Sen. Jack Walsh, chair of the Senate Labor Committee and Senate prime sponsor of HB 88.
“The hard-working men and women of this state don’t pay different rents based on their age. A price of gallon of milk doesn’t change depending on how long they’ve been employed,” he said. “Yet, we allow employers to pay workers less than the minimum based solely on their age and their hire date. The youth and training wages are immoral, border-line illegal, and I look forward to ending them as quickly as possible so all workers in Delaware are equally once again.”
HB 88, which passed on a party-line 26-15 vote, would take effect 90 days after it is signed into law. The bill now heads to the Senate for consideration.
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