The minimum wage is governed by the Minimum Wage and Hour Act of Guam, which is found in Article 1 of Chapter 3, Title 22 of the Guam Code Annotated. The purpose of the the Minimum Wage and Hour Act is described as follows:
“It is declared to be the policy of this Chapter:
Source: Section 3102, Wage and Hour Act of Guam.
(a) to establish minimum wage and maximum hour standards at levels consistent with the public health, efficiency and general well-being of workers;
(b) to safeguard existing minimum wage and maximum hour standards which are adequate to the health, efficiency and general well-being of workers from the effects of the serious and unfair competition resulting from wage and hour standards detrimental to the health, efficiency and general well-being of workers; and
(c) to increase employment opportunities.”
Guam’s minimum wages are set by Guam law as follows:
“Every employer shall pay each person employed by him wages at a rate not less than Eight Dollars and Twenty-Five Cents ($8.25) per hour, effective January 1, 2015; not less than Eight Dollars and Seventy-Five Cents ($8.75) per hour, effective March 1, 2020; and not less than Nine Dollars and Twenty-Five Cents ($9.25) per hour, effective September 1, 2021.”
Source: Section 3105, Wage and Hour Act of Guam.
For much of Guam’s history until January 1, 2015, Guam’s minimum wage has followed the federal minimum wage due to a mirroring provision in the minimum wage law, which states:
“Whenever a Federal Law establishes a minimum wage higher than the minimum wage established pursuant to § 3105, the minimum wage under this Chapter shall be correspondingly increased to the minimum wage level of the Federal law with the same effective date.”
Source: Section 3121, Wage and Hour Act of Guam.
There are a number of carve-out provisions to the minimum wage law, including a relatively loose definition of “employee” under the Article, which also includes carve-outs for agriculture and domestic employment, exemptions outlined in Section 3018, and authorizations for the Director of Labor to provide exceptions to handicapped workers, learners, and apprentices through programs. In addition, employers who employ alien labor must pay at least as good or better wages to U.S. citizens and permanent residents as to the alien labor they employ for the same or substantially similar work, as provided in Section 3106.
The article also governs maximum hour and overtime.
GuamMinimumWage.org 