Minimum Wage Notes (PA)

We've discussed the concept of minimum wages here, how they are perhaps bad (if you hate the poor) or good (if you don't). As I'm working on a project in Pennsylvania this month, I happened across one of those workplace posters that explains the impact of local minimum wage guidelines. More than the actual level of the minimum ($6.25 on 1/1/07, rising to $7.15 on 7/1/07) I found the exceptions kind of interesting:

Labor on a farm

Domestic service in or about the private home of the employer

Delivery of newspapers to the consumer

Okay. Makes sense. I guess these are jobs that kids might get.

Publication of weekly, semi-weekly or daily newspaper with a circulation of less than 4,000 when the major portion of circulation is in the county where published or a bordering county

Uh... Huh? I don't get it.

Bona fide executive, administrative or professional capacity, (including academic administrative personnel or teacher in public schools) or in capacity of outside salesman. However, an employee of a retail or service establishment shall not be excluded from the definition of employee employed in a bona fide executive or administrative capacity because of the number of hours in the employee's work not directly or closely related to the performance of executive, professional or administrative activities, if less than 40% of the employee's hours worked in the workweek are devoted to such activities

Okay, was that even English?

Educational, charitable, religious, or nonprofit organization where no employer-employee relationship exists and service is rendered gratuitously

That one makes sense. We don't want to have people not donate their time to worthy causes.

Golf caddy

You've got to be kidding me! The legislators just didn't want to pay their caddies more than a nickel an hour, I guess.

There are another dozen or so exceptions of varying levels of ridiculousness. This next one was my favorite, though...

Any employee engaged in the processing of maple sap into sugar (other than refined sugar) or syrup

I dare the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to explain that one to me. I assume the Governor's cousin owns a maple syrup company and wants to wring his workers dry.