Opinion No. 56-6537
October 31, 1956
TO: Nils T. Kjellstrom, Assistant District Attorney, Seventh Judicial District, Truth or Consequences, New Mexico
Reference is here made to your letter of October 15, 1956, in which an opinion from this office is requested concerning the Minimum Wage Act of 1955, particularly that section dealing with the minimum wage of 50c an hour to be paid laundry workers.
We understand the facts to be as follows:
A laundry worker, under the statute, is employed on the basis of a 48-hour week. The employer, a laundry, pays a weekly wage of $ 20.00 a week, or perhaps less, for the above work week.
Your inquiry is whether a weekly wage of a sum certain in dollars, which figures out to less than 50c per hour for the week of work, is a violation of the above statute.
It is the opinion of this office that a laundry worker must receive a wage at least equivalent to 50c per hour for every hour of the work week, no matter what basis the weekly wage is predicated upon.
By Howard M. Rosenthal
Assistant Attorney General