Breaks

• Starting in 1994 with the passing of the West Virginia Safety and Welfare of Employees Act, employers are required to allow employees to take meal breaks. If workers are on the job for six consecutive hours they are required to receive a 20-minute meal break. This is the minimum amount of meal break time employees are permitted to receive; employers are free to allow workers to take longer meal breaks if they choose to do so. State required break periods that are 20 minutes or less are considered paid work time, so employees must receive wages for this time. Youth under the age of 16 years must receive at least a 30-minute break after they have worked five consecutive hours. Employers must pay these minor workers for the 30-minute break.
  
  

Minimum Wage

• Employers are required to pay workers at least the state minimum wage, which is $7.25 as of February 2011. Tipped employees can receive an hourly wage of $5.80. However, if tipped employees' hourly wages do not equal the state required minimum wage amount with tips, employers must pay tipped employees the difference.
  
  

Overtime Pay

• After employees work more than 40 hours in a seven-day period, they must receive overtime pay. The rate of overtime in West Virginia is one and one half times the employee's regular hourly wage. For example, if an employee earns $40 an hour and works 45 hours in a single week, he is to receive $1,900.
  
  

Training

• If employees in West Virginia are required to attend training sessions as part of their job, they must receive payment for the time they spend at the training. The amount of pay they receive is the same as their regular hourly wage. Employers are not required to pay employees who attend voluntary training programs.