2009 Pay Rate...5 cent bonus here we come!

lladnar said:
Obviously they're going to keep the wages low, then give everyone a quarter raise mid summer. They'll be seen as heroes...

If they did that, I would streak down the main midway on a Saturday in July wearing nothing but a sombrero and platform high heels while singing La Bamba.

The pay has been announced on Cedar Point. Its the exact same as last year, as is housing costs.

That is a sad thing too see, I was really hoping they would pay you guys what you are worth. I think that they should at least offer a higher bonus to returning employees, .10 cents for every year would go a long way.

CP_Obsessed_Freak1987 said:
The pay has been announced on Cedar Point. Its the exact same as last year, as is housing costs.

Starting July 24th paying people $7.00/hour will be illegal for Cedar Point. So expect a raise.

Unless there is some exception that isn't documented anywhere.

So do we expect to see Race Ringer streaking down the midway in Platform heels singing Labamba as a result? I'll stake my spot out by the waterball.

It seems to me that minimum wage increased on the first of this month to $7.30, so they would already fall afoul of the new minimum wage law in Ohio. You should be expecting the pay rate to jump to $7.30 the moment you are hired, not in July. Heck, their applications and job material should already reflect this, at the very least online.

I will be joining you Jay. :)

I have a feeling CP is going to fight this increase in minimum wage any way they can, seeing how they've been nickle and diming everything the last few years. I know as of a year or two ago they were exempt from Ohio minimum wage laws. Not sure if that has changed, but I'm sure they aren't exempt from federal laws.

The latest Ohio minimum wage law does NOT exempt amusement parks from paying the new Ohio minimum wage of $7.30, and the same was true last year of the increase to $7.00. I to have a feeling this will end up being a contested issue, though I'm not sure how much it will matter at this point. I have no doubt they contested it during formation, but thankfully reason and common sense seem to have prevailed in a legislative session (for once).

Every now and then what I hear of Ohio politics the last few years has made me somewhat happy to have moved to Indiana, where some of the most controversial topics have been the DST issue (I honestly liked never having to change the clocks, but oh well) and the toll road being leased to a private group (from Australia IIRC).

From what I was reading C.P. is exempt from federal but not Ohio minimum wages.

To tell you the truth, everyone thinks that $7.00, isn't enough and with what ride hosts go through we should get paid more, however we probably won't. $7.00 is the minimum that CP will pay their employees and after working at least 50+ hours a week, it does add up. I made more this past summer then I ever have anywhere else I worked. It's worth staying through Halloweekends to get that $1.00 and your bonus at the end of December. People can complain all they want about the pay rate but it's not going to change.

I know that Federal Law supersedes State Law (obviously). As there appears to be a discord between the two, I would expect Cedar Fair to fight this tooth and nail.

Of course I side with the underdog where wage/benefits are concerned. After looking at some executive compensation packages - it would be absurd not to spread the wealth in the small amount.

We're certainly not talking a huge amount (5000 employees at 50hrs @7.00 = $1,750,000 per week... 5000 employees at 50 hours @ 7.25 = $1,812,500 per week.)

That .25 seems like something the park should be able to swallow. ($62,500 per week)

Whether you're working a lot of hours or not, I think it's only fair that everyone be equally compensated. Cedar Point has a lot of jobs and as a seasonal job, employees are exempt from receiving overtime, therefore they hire less people and everyone gets a ton of hours. Most of the jobs at Cedar Point are not a joke and require quite a bit of care and understanding from the employees.

In the past, I remember amusement parks being exempt from minimum wage in Ohio, but I believe at least one time during that period (2007?) Cedar Point still paid the minimum wage fearing a loss of interest in work there. I don't know where this law stands today, but if they are not exempt from it, I have no idea why they would post a rate at less than minimum wage.

Paying workers 30 cents more certainly should not be a concern these days. Especially considering all of the cuts that are continuously being made. Just my opinion though.

It doesn't seem like much on the surface, but 30¢ adds up when you consider thousands of employees. If 2,500 people work 40 hours, that's $30,000 a week. Over an entire season, that is not an insignificant number.

I'm not saying Cedar Point should or should not pay more, but even a small increase can multiply quickly.

Without beating the horse to death (as Scarlett Ohara did and many of us have already done on here) I have to say...

"You have to Invest Money to Make Money". This is something the park has not done in the area of employees and thus it reflects on service levels.... Poor service leads to less in park spending and less return visits...

Are they fearful of improving employee morale/quality?

Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. - Yoda

So with the interesting situation between two minimum wage laws that seem to be at odds, I decided to do some quick research on the matter (more in depth research will follow, plan on writing a little article for another site) to see what I could dig up. For those that want/need a quick recap of the laws and how they differ, here they are.

OH Minimum Wage Law: $7.30 as of Jan. 1, no longer any exemptions for seasonal amusement workers (more changed, but for simplicity and focus of subject, that's all that matters)

Federal Minimum Wage Law: $7.25 AS OF JUL. 24, 2009. Federal law still has an exemption for seasonal amusement workers.

After some quick searching on the matter, I ran across the ever popular and informational About.com, and here is the key part of the article that I found

"In cases where state rates differ with the federal rate, the higher wage rate always applies."
http://usgovinfo.about.com/blminimumwage.htm

Now of course, About.com is not the definitive answer here, but considering where the links in the article go to, and what I'm looking through right now (T29, C8, Sec201-219) is likely where this was taken from. Take this for what you will. Like I said, that was what I found after some quick searching, and I'm doing more detailed searching right now.

Oops, I misread the law.
Here it is http://www.com.ohio.gov/laws/docs/laws_2009MinimumWage.pdf

This is pretty stupid on the part of the park.Even if what they are doing is completely legal, they will still end up paying more to defend themselves in the class-action lawsuits you know are coming.

I talked to someone who asked the state of Ohio that handles this, Labor Division I think, and they said Cedar Point is required to pay $7.30.

How many of the same discussions do we really need to have about something that's barely worth having one topic about?

Must be the off-season.

Loopy said:
How many of the same discussions do we really need to have about something that's barely worth having one topic about?

Must be the off-season.

I was thinking the same thing...same things keep being said...basically people work here because EVEN IFFFFF CP doesn't follow min wage as of July 2009 we still get paid A LOT because of all our hours and thats the attraction of amusement parks well besides other things like friends and so forth and so forth...